Setting Boundaries In Massage

When you work for yourself, there is one issue that will most definitely rise to the surface.  The issue is setting boundaries.  When you work in an office from 8 am to 5 pm, it is easy for people to know that they should come and see you or call you at that time.  When you work from home or for yourself, those boundaries get blurred easily.

In these days, we are connected via social media, cell phones, and email.  It isn't easy to unplug and stop.  We are all just too available in this world.  It is part of the world we live in and setting boundaries becomes very difficult.

For my business that I run out of my home and my office, I had to get a second phone.  This way, I can shut it off and turn it on at my set office hours.  I realize people will still try to call me and think I should be on the phone all hours of the day and night, but that will drive you crazy.


Just before I started my business up, I was doing the corporate tech support for a major company.  I would get calls from 8 am to midnight almost 7 days a week.  It was no fun.  It was exhausting.  While I wish I could have set boundaries, it just wasn't an option in this job.  In the end, it burned me out and I said enough is enough.

Setting boundaries may not be easy or fun, but for the sake of my sanity, it is necessary.  You can't be on 100% of the time and you need a break.  You need to be able to step out of what you are doing so you can recharge.  Without recharging, you're asking for burnout!

When you run your own business (and in my case a massage healing business), you need to be able to set those boundaries so you can continue to do the work you want to do.  After all, I am already juggling a million different things because I'm the only one there is to do everything.  I'm a one man band!

Boundaries in phone calls and appointments are essential.  They help give me the ability to be there more for my clients, rather than spread so thin that I am barely in existence.  It helps focus the resources and mind and it respects both the client time and my time.  Without setting boundaries, it gets to be a free-for-all.

I'm not so hard nosed that I can't be flexible, but when someone starts obliterating the boundaries, then flexibility gets narrowed.  I know it isn't always easy standing up for the boundaries, but in order to be there for everyone, it is something I must do.

At the end of the day, setting boundaries is a healthy thing.  Too many in our society do not have good boundaries and by setting boundaries, we are modeling good behavior.  We are helping in ways that are unseen.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 12/7/15 by Don Shetterly

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