Setting boundaries is one of the most essential skills for living a healthy, balanced life. But it’s not always as simple as saying “no” or blocking time out on a calendar. Setting clear boundaries takes strategizing and care. It takes understanding potential threats to your well-being—whether physical, emotional, or mental—and proactively protecting yourself from them.
No one understands this better than health coaches. Health coaches emphasize that creating boundaries isn’t just about avoiding stress, it’s about fostering an environment that nurtures your overall health, from your physical energy to your emotional resilience. What’s more, effective boundary setting doesn’t just prevent burnout, it creates the space and environment for you to really thrive and achieve more optimal health and wellbeing. In today’s blog, we share three tips for setting better boundaries, according to health coaches.
Understand and define your limits.
Health coaches understand that self awareness lays the foundation for any meaningful change. Not only that, but they’re trained to help unlock this self awareness through science-backed techniques like motivational interviewing and active listening. Through these methods, a health coach creates a safe space where clients can explore and articulate their boundaries in a way that’s reflective of their unique needs and goals. Together, they dive into the core of what feels manageable versus overwhelming.
When you understand your personal limits, it becomes much easier to set boundaries that effectively protect your energy, mental health and overall wellbeing. This may involve recognizing when you’re stretched too thin or even when certain daily habits that are supposed to be healthy actually bring about more stress and burnout. For example, you may have a goal to increase physical activity in your life, but daily runs might be causing more mental and physical strain than you anticipated. Health coaches can help you identify these limits, allowing you to adjust your approach and create a healthier, more sustainable routine that aligns with your true needs and goals.
By taking the time to understand and define your limits, you lay the groundwork for setting boundaries that truly support your well-being. Health coaches are invaluable in guiding you through this process at every stage of your health journey, even as your boundaries evolve and shift with the ebb and flow of day-to-day life.
Address boundaries holistically.
Health coaching takes a holistic approach to helping clients achieve healthier, happier and more productive lives. This same approach lends itself well to addressing boundaries effectively. Instead of focusing on one isolated area of their lives, health coaches encourage clients to assess their physical, mental, emotional and social wellbeing to understand where boundaries might be missing or less clearly defined.
For example, health coaches might recognize you’re experiencing overwhelm and are on the verge of burnout. This sort of exhaustion rarely ever has a single cause. Health coaches might notice part of the problem is digital overwhelm – you’re spending too much time on devices, consuming information that’s bringing you more stress than happiness. This doomscrolling habit doesn’t exist in isolation, it’s actually a habit you developed as a distraction from stress at work. Health coaches break down this complex cycle, providing you with stress management techniques and introducing healthier habits while also reinforcing work-life boundaries and boundaries around screen time.
Health coaches are experts at finding simple, comprehensive solutions to seemingly very complex problems. Boundary setting isn’t always easy – particularly because of how nuanced our needs are as humans – but health coaches make the process for addressing complex boundaries easier.
Employ physical and non-physical boundaries.
The concept of “boundaries” can feel very abstract, even though they’re very real and very important. But this doesn’t always have to be the case. Health coaches recognize that AND that in order to be truly effective, sometimes clients need to employ physical boundaries to reinforce less tangible ones. For instance, health coaches might encourage clients to designate a space at home as “off-limits” for work to signal a space where they can mentally decompress after a stressful day. Along the same lines, putting away devices when you’ve committed to spending time with family may help you engage more effectively and leave the conversation feeling connected and refreshed.
By incorporating both physical and non-physical boundaries into your routine, you create a more intentional environment that supports your overall health. These simple, yet powerful, actions help reinforce the limits you’ve set, making it easier to protect your energy, stay grounded, and prioritize what truly matters.
Recognizing and honoring your boundaries is not an easy feat; but REAL health coaches make it more possible through science-backed techniques, empathy and experience. Real health coaches take a holistic, personalized approach to defining clear boundaries and create strategies to ensure they’re not only established but also maintained in a way that promotes sustainable mental and emotional health. Every person deserves access to this support through health coaching. If you’re an employer or organization that’s interested in learning more about partnering with us to deliver the power of effective and affordable health coaching to your clients, employees or members, send us a note to team@yourcoach.health.