Setting boundaries: Why it's important, and how to start doing it

Setting boundaries is essential to cultivate healthy relationships, whether personally or professionally.

A lack of boundaries can be harmful to people mainly because it allows people to impose things on you that you are not comfortable with doing, or that you may not have time to do. Still, you do it anyway so as not to let people down.

The thing is that when you subject yourself to other people's needs and feelings without setting healthy boundaries for yourself, and what you want, you end up nullifying yourself.

Boundaries are imaginary lines created to establish limits in a relationship. These limits will define how you want to be treated, how people can act towards you, and what you are willing to do for others so as to avoid harming yourself. The truth is: people will survive if you say "no."

A lack of healthy boundaries can often express itself in personal characteristics and behaviors like:

Accepting large volumes of work (that is not even related to your role in the company)

Low self-esteem

The inability to say "no" to other people's requests and needs

The constant need to please people

Not speaking your mind or sharing your genuine feelings with others

Constantly searching for others' approval.

If you are reading this blog, you probably relate to some of the characteristics mentioned above and just realized that it is essential to establish limits to build healthier relationships and maintain your mental, emotional and physical health.

You also may have realized that it's time for a change in your personal boundaries, as you now understand that limits are necessary to build truthful, solid, and healthy relationships.

If you want to avoid confusion, frustration, and other, related feelings in your relationships, start thinking about your boundaries and establish them very clearly to others, identifying why they are important to you and your mental health.

Communication is a crucial factor in every relationship, and you must be able to communicate your feelings, limits, and expectations clearly and assertively. Learning to say "no" when your boundaries are not being respected is also essential.

Maybe you have never done this before, and it can seem like it is too much to handle in the beginning. Therefore, start with small steps and slowly build your boundaries with others. This way, you will understand what works and what doesn't and make improvements along the way without overwhelming yourself in the process.

The more you practice setting boundaries, the more comfortable you will become with asserting them.