Boundaries: why it's important to set them with everyone in your life

I am stating the obvious here, but university is undoubtedly a challenge. A challenge for your attention, your time and your mental health. University is also the prime time for you to establish healthy habits to carry you through life. One such habit is setting boundaries with the people in your life. But why are boundaries important?

Papyrus, a charity for the prevention of young suicide, promotes the establishing of boundaries as "they help us establish and maintain healthy relationships, prevent burnout and resentment, and protect our mental health and wellbeing". Stanford University adds that "they help us to build trust, safety, and respect in relationships". Boundaries, therefore, have two major functions - to create and maintain healthy relationships and to protect mental health and wellbeing. Boundaries can be applied across all your relationships - family, friends, romantic partners, and work relationships. At its heart, boundaries allow you to express what you are comfortable with.

To be able to say no and draw a clear line of what is acceptable is crucial to a healthy work-life balance. Popular work boundaries include not having your work email on your mobile phone and telling your boss or co-workers not to contact you outside of work hours. Even the quiet quitting movement shows work boundaries by not going beyond their existing job responsibilities. As a result, the LendingTree found that 57% of quiet quitters found that their work-life balance improved after setting work boundaries.

Boundaries in your relationships with family, friends and romantic partners can be intimidating to implement at first out of fear of offending them. If they don't respect basic boundaries, consider whether you want them in your life. Healthy boundaries in relationships can include material boundaries, emotional boundaries, and physical boundaries. Material boundaries may include not lending friends money who have failed to pay you back previously. Physical boundaries may include having time to yourself and not feeling obligated to hug or kiss family. Emotional boundaries may include telling your friend you aren't in the right headspace for emotional topics.

Entering young adulthood, this is the time to navigate relationships and boundaries, for peace of mind and healthy habits. Be open about your boundaries and people should respect them.