Sometimes it isn’t easy to set healthy social media boundaries, even when you know it’s the right thing to do.
Here are two tips to make this a little easier.
- First, when you’re listening to a friend talk about a problem, picture a semipermeable and invisible shield around yourself.
- Love and caring feelings can go through the shield to your friend, but your friend’s distress and problems bounce off.
- Second, imagine a way to leave your friend’s distress and problems behind.
For example, when you end a chat or text with a friend, visualize transferring responsibility to your friend’s parents or much loved pet; or, when walking home from hanging out with a distressed friend, identify a house, a stop sign, or a tree that is the boundary between your life and your friend’s life.
Visualize yourself walking through a force field that separates your life from your friend’s life.
