Setting Boundaries is Important

The Angels Say It’s Part of Self-Care

Photo by Cordell Kingsley on Unsplash

There are some things I avoid, because I really hate doing them. I hate helping someone move, so I never ask others to help me move. I hate going to graduation ceremonies for others besides my own kids. I hate going to buying parties; you know the ones where a host gets a discount based on how much everyone buys? I hate those.

There was a time in my life when I did a lot of things I didn’t want to do. There are always parts of a job that you don’t particularly like, but at least you’re getting paid for them. I’m at the point in my life where I rarely do anything I don’t want to do. I’m pretty much done with that. It started at work.

Any teacher will tell you that, if you’re good at your job, you’re “punished” by having to teach the most challenging students, dealing with the most difficult parents, and heading up all kinds of extracurricular activities, clubs, and committees. It’s probably that way in a lot of jobs. Towards the end of my work days, I finally learned to say no. I was nice about it, but I was also firm.

My most common response was something like, “I’m flattered you asked me, and that’s an important job, but if I add that to what I’m already doing, something isn’t going to be done well, and I don’t want to compromise the projects I’m…