We talk about this 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 on our retreats.
Compassionate boundaries are as much about being compassionate with yourself and your own discomfort as you have to hold a boundary as they are with the person who you holding that boundary for.
We get it, we’re doctors too. We know how hard it can be to say no to a patient request and end up still being at work late into the night as you finish notes, write scripts and other tasks.
Few people go into the health and healing professions without a desire to help others.
The issue is that if you run yourself into the ground, you actually end up not being able to help anyone. Compassionate boundaries are an acknowledgement of the fact that you are human- with basic human needs and the same 24 hours in the day every other human has.
You simply 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲. It doesn’t matter how much you wish you could be.
Try to remember, that 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨- 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. You don’t get extra time in the day because you pile more on.
Yes, this means making hard decisions sometimes and yes this means letting patients down sometimes. Obviously you need to be mindful of triaging what tasks and requests can wait until the next day, which ones you need to action immediately- but perhaps also, which ones you could safely delegate to someone else?
How could you integrate compassionate boundaries into your own life?