What are Boundaries and Why Should We Have Them?

This post is going to be a short one. I wanted to write about boundaries and ended up writing a lot so I’m going to break my thoughts on the topic into a couple of posts. For this first entry, I would like to define boundaries and talk about why they are beneficial. 

“Boundaries” is a term I’m sure you’ve heard at one point or another in a mental health setting. As a therapist, I talk about boundaries a lot but sometimes I don’t take a step back to actually define what boundaries are. When we talk about boundaries in terms of mental health, it means the point at which we say “no”. This is the simplest way I have found to think about it. Here are some important things to remember about boundaries:

-       They can take many different forms. (physical, mental, emotional etc.)

-       There are healthy boundaries and unhealthy boundaries.

-       They can change over time. 

-       You need them.

In my forthcoming posts about boundaries, I will delve deeper into the different kind of boundaries you can have and go into specific boundary relationships.

Without rules, society would crumble and boundaries are the same way for ourselves. If we don’t have boundaries or have unhealthy boundaries, we are opening ourselves up to being burnt out, losing relationships, losing balance in our lives, increased stress and increased overwhelming feelings, to name a few. 

Balance is essential and without boundaries we might find that one side of our scale is so overloaded that the scale tips over. Creating healthy boundaries sets the parameters of your personal, emotional and physical space so that you can have a healthy life. 

Stay tuned for more posts about how to set boundaries in different situations like romantic relationships, friendships, family relationships, work and self-care.