The more time you spend with someone, the closer you inevitably become, and the more likely you are to be in-tune with them or fall into the same “frequency” as them, if you will. This can happen with friends, people you work with, or really anyone in virtually any social setting you immerse yourself in. While this heightened sense of sympathy may seem like a good thing – you’re always on the same page, you laugh at the same things, and mourn sympathetically with one another making you feel more fulfilled – you have to remember to stay cautious and try to maintain internal balance to ensure you don’t get so swept up in other people’s feelings that you lose yourself and your emotional independence in the process. Luckily, our simple 5 step guide for achieving and sustaining balance can help make sure that doesn’t happen!
Step One: Create and Enforce Boundaries
It’s natural to want to be there for those you care about, and it can be hard to watch others handle crisis – especially if there’s logically nothing you can do to help in that moment. However, allowing yourself to always be on call for others in your life means you’re never allowing yourself to truly rest. You’re always mentally alert in case something happens, even at the cost of your physical and emotional well-being. So instead, try creating more boundaries and giving yourself time to rest and recharge. If that means turning your phone all the way off after 8pm to shut out the world and dedicate that time to family only, so be it. You need and deserve to have that time to yourself, and in the long run it will make you even more capable to help those who truly need you.
Step Two: Listen To Your Body
So often people are so caught up in the comprehensive well-being of others, whether it be their kids, boss, clients, spouse, parents, or whoever, that they continue to go, go, go and never stop to listen to themselves and what they need. Not only is this mentally and emotionally detrimental, it can cause people to overlook real physical symptoms that could cause serious problems later on. That’s why, you need to make sure you always set aside time every day to really listen to your body. Are you overtired? Nauseated from not eating enough today? Stiff, sore, or otherwise not moving/functioning properly? If so, slow down. Stretch, work out, meditate, and really feel yourself. Feel your breath as it moves through you, feel your heart pumping and your joints bending. Figure out what your body needs, and make it happen. True balance cannot be achieved unless your physical self is as well cared for as your mental and emotional self.
Step Three: Organize Your Incoming Thoughts
If you ever met a person claiming they’ve never have any worries or concerns, you’d probably start to worry about them yourself. It’s simply human nature to have a lot on your mind, especially in this day in age. The news will always have you worried about the state of the country/world, social media will always have you worried over the hundreds of friends in need at any given moment, your partner may have something going on in life, your boss might be upset, all the while your kid has a cold, your pet hasn’t been walked in days, and you’ve got a whole house load of work that needs doing. Sound familiar? Well, stop. Stop letting your mind fill with thoughts that are only overwhelming and distracting you from what you need to do and your needs. Besides, notice how all of those concerns were for others, or things you have no control over, not you. So instead, when you feel something pulling your mind in a different direction, try and quickly analyze those thoughts and see if they are useful/helpful to you, or merely a hindrance driven by anxiety. If it’s the latter, let it go or set it aside until you have time to come back to it later on.
Step Four: Respect Your Introvert/Extrovert Nature
Whether you’re the type of person who needs to be social in order to recharge but you’re constantly too busy helping others to get out and enjoy yourself, or you need your alone time to recuperate but you’re always helping others at the expense of yourself, you need to start respecting yourself and your needs more. You can’t pour from an empty cup, which means you certainly can’t help others if you yourself are not balanced or in a good place. You don’t have to spend all your time catering to yourself, but make sure you at least set aside some time for you, and respect yourself enough to follow through.
Step Five: Be Careful Who You Let In
You likely already have people in your life that once you hang out with them, your mood shifts. Perhaps you have a good friend who always makes you feel pumped and excited, and you feel recharged every time you conclude an evening out with them. Or perhaps you have a coworker that always seems to have problems, and every time you’re around them at work you just end up feeling worse or more depressed about your own life by the time your shift is over. That’s why, it’s important to be careful of who you spend your time with, and monitor how each person makes you feel. If you notice that you feel negative all the time, but others around you are always negative, try to switch things up and lessen your time with those people in exchange for more positive vibes.
And as always, if you need help reducing the stress in your life, you can always get in touch with us. Our personal concierge services are all designed to make your life easier so that you can focus on yourself more, all you have to do is tell us what you need and how we can help! If you need personal assistant help in any way, please call Good Neighbor Concierge at 617.209.9311 or fill in the form in the sidebar to schedule a no-obligation needs assessment at a time that is convenient for you.
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