Wellness Diaries 5

 Episode 5 

“I Set Boundaries and Immediately Panicked”


It started with a brave “Hey, I won’t be able to take that on right now.”

I hit send and felt powerful for exactly sixty seconds… then spiraled.

Did I sound too blunt? Too distant? Too selfish?

What if they think I hate them now?

What if they hate me now?

What if I just ruined my entire career over one boundary?

I spent the next ten minutes writing a follow-up message, rewriting it, deleting it, rewriting it again, and then closing the chat app entirely because my nervous system couldn't take anymore of it.

The person replied five hours later with a thumbs up emoji and a message that read “No worries at all, thanks for letting me know!” 

I had been in a full emotional hostage situation over a thumbs-up emoji.



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