Do You Have a Job or Does Your Job Have You?

Before I start talking about the much needed boundaries around your job, I encourage you to read the first part of this series about setting boundaries with yourself. It sets the tone for the entire series, and if you can’t set a boundary with yourself and stick to it, you’ll find it quite difficult to place them in other areas of your life. *insert Druski meme* “But hey, that’s just me.”

Now, let’s talk about the place that helps you keep the lights on at home—your job. For a place that we spend so much of our life in, you’d think that it would be a place you enjoy showing up to each day. But alas, jobs have drained the life out of many people. You find it increasingly more challenging with each passing day to show up and give your best because, in many cases, they are taking more out of you than they’re giving (you know, kind of like that toxic ex you haven’t let go of). Understand this—your job may pay you, but they don’t own you. And we are going to discuss how to make sure they know that, too.

T.I.M.B.S, Vol. 2: 7 Steps to Remove Your Life's Toxins

As my process of self-growth has progressed (now 3 months and counting), one thing I have learned is how important it is for your personal well-being and development to remove the toxins present in your life. By toxins, I mean the factors in your life that are holding you back, impacting your life in negative ways, and/or causing you more stress than you need. The thing about toxins is that oftentimes, we don't even realize what the toxins are, and this could be for a couple of different reasons: we are overcompensating how much good they do for us; we are undermining how bad things get when that toxin is present; and/or, we are denying the toxin is a toxin at all. As strange as it may be, toxins have a weird way of giving us a false sense of "comfort" because we become so accustomed to their presence, and don't want things to change to an unfamiliar, "uncomfortable" state by removing them. The truth is, we are better off without them, but letting them go can be quite a challenge.