Boundaries & Barriers

 

The sun is shining here in Wisconsin, and since this month has brought snow in the past, I'm finding every moment I can to drink in its rays!

Two weeks have passed since the launch of Decision Permission, and I find myself with more decisions to make than ever before. I'm very much a "live in the moment" kind of girl, so when I was writing the book, I lived in the writing & researching; I gave little thought to what came after. So I'm sure you can imagine how surprising & new each of these media and promotion opportunities has been! 

I'm incredibly grateful for each chance to share my book and its mission with a wider audience, and it's been most fulfilling to collaborate with other entrepreneurs and small business owners as we listen, learn, and support one another.

While these opportunities are definitely unforeseen blessings, I recently caught myself slipping back into old habits--away from the lessons I earned in writing this book.

Each new experience has added to this snowball effect of excitement and break-neck speed promotion. And because of that pace, I noticed that I wasn't Getting Quiet as often, and I was letting go of the boundaries I worked so hard to put into place.

I don't know about you, but when life gets crazy, I tend to swirl with it, forgetting that what surrounds me does not have to be within me.

So I took control of the whirlwind, I sat down, and I revisited Decision Permission to remind myself what I was already losing sight of--step away from the madness before you go mad with it!

In my quiet time (yoga, watching my kids play, staring at the plant on my window sill), the following thought surfaced:

If I don't stay true to the boundaries that keep me centered & true to my needs, I am building invisible barriers that seem temporary, but they will ultimately pain me down the road.

My boundaries look like saying "no" when I'm filled to the brim. My boundaries look like trading social media for social time with my family. My boundaries look like leaving a situation/conversation/meeting when I've listened, given, and grown to the point that it's time for me to move along.

When I don't stay true to these boundaries, I see myself building barriers. Barriers that keep me from...

• Contentment
• Quality time
• A sense of peace
• Remembering that I am in control of my perspective

So I'm Getting Quiet again. I'm Making Lists of my gratitudes and reminding myself that if even nature gets off-balanced in response to the world, then I'm going to continue to need a whole lot of grace and resetting to find solid ground once again.

Set boundaries, Break barriers. Avoid boundaries, Build barriers.

Here's to setting boundaries so that we stop resenting the barriers that we, ourselves, build,

Kristy Jean