priorities and healthy boundaries
• Get easily frustrated
• Detach emotionally from close relationships
• A constant sense of sadness
• Emotional exhaustion
• Physical exhaustion
• Loss of interest in activities
• Increase in physical illness
• Absent days from work
• Poor quality to sleep . Never wake up refreshed .
• Constant sense worry
• Feeling nervous
• Poor appetite
• Feeling hopeless
• Loss of enthusiasm
• Loss of a sense of purpose Until the issue causing stress is removed , you will continue to experience burnout . Not attending to our wellbeing can lead to chronic illness such as hypertension , diabetes , obesity , arthritis , stomach ulcers etc .
It is a fact that up to 80 % of illnesses that people see a physician for are related in some way to lifestyle issues such as stress , lack of exercise , poor eating habits , etc .
Healthy Boundaries On the same continuum , it is important to establish healthy boundaries . What are boundaries ? Boundaries are simply the space that you create around yourself . Think about it like your ‘ personal space ’. It ’ s the space between you and other people . Even from people that are close in your lifelike your children , your spouse , your parents , siblings etc . It ’ s where you get to be who you are without worrying about others . It ’ s an imaginary line that people should not cross . Have you established your boundaries ? Do others in your life clearly know what your boundaries are ?
A lot of people -especially women- are not clear about what their boundaries are . And they assume that others should have known what their boundaries are . It is important to not only establish boundaries but also communicate what those boundaries are . This causes less stress due to misunderstandings .
And communicating boundaries does not have to be confrontational or in any way rude . Healthy boundaries support your wellbeing .
For instance in order to make your wellbeing your number one priority , you may establish a boundary that no one smokes or drinks alcohol in your home .
Or you may have a boundary that no one raises his or her voice at you for any reason .
One of my personal boundaries is that when I am at work I do not answer my cellphone unless it is my immediate family calling . I let calls go into my voicemail and sift through from there . I will respond to only text messages if I feel the need to . I give my callers the option of communicating with me via email by providing my email address on my voicemail message . This creates is less disruption to my day .
I communicate these boundaries in a clear fashion but I am in no way rude about them .
The easiest way to determine where you need to establish a boundary is to check what are some things that currently irritate you . Anything that irritates you needs to be addressed immediately . It may be a friend who likes to call just as you are about to have dinner with your family . Or the boss who stops in at the end of the day and gives you an urgent assignment that has to be completed by 8 AM the following morning .
Begin to put boundaries in place . Let the people around you know what they are .
To your health and wellbeing
Dr Eno Nsima-Obot is a board certified specialist in internal medicine . She graduated from the University of Calabar , Nigeria in 1987 . She is passionate about helping people live healthy and wholesome lives by making simple small changes . She is a published author , speaker and lifestyle coach . An avid lifelong learner , in her spare time , she runs half and full marathons , enjoys yoga , and dabbles into photography . For more information about Dr Eno log onto www . doctoreno . com invests . ng - MARCH / APRIL 2017 25