indigostone07
“Set peace of mind as your highest goal and organize your life around it.” – Brian Tracy.
In this life, situations happen that are outside your control. Rude neighbor, backstabbing co-worker, broke friend asking for money. Learn to protect your peace. Learning to protect your peace means you navigate away from unnecessary drama and other people’s toxic behavior. Depending on who you ask, it may be seen as selfish, but having self-love is the first step to reducing stress in your life. So, what are the next steps to protecting your peace?
Practice discernment
Be aware of who is in your circle. Know who is for you and is against you. Practicing discernment means you judge the people around you and their intentions towards you. All judgement is not bad or superficial. It is important to understand the motives of the people in your life. The right people will like you, respect you, and want to see you succeed. The not so good people will not respect you, make you wonder if they like you, or make you feel like you owe them something for your successes in life. Once you identify the people who may not be for you or bring you unnecessary stress, set healthy boundaries.
Set healthy boundaries
To set healthy boundaries you need to know yourself and what you will and will not stand for. Yes, it includes a basic understanding of right and wrong, but it includes personal values around how you show up in the world. For example, do you believe in congratulating friends for large and small wins? Do you believe in bringing soup to a sick family member? Do you believe in complimenting a co-worker on a new hair cut? Whatever you wish to receive and whatever motivates you in life, this is who you surround yourself with in life. Cut out all the rest. Cut out those who only take and never give. Cut out the ones who are always negative and a Debbie Downer. Set healthy boundaries.
Prioritize your goals
Protecting your peace means you also prioritize your life goals. We all have 24 hours each day to eat, sleep, work, take care of self, take care of family, and slay dragons. People with unnecessary drama can be very, very time consuming. Having a feud with a rude neighbor can take days, weeks, months. Engaging a jealous backstabbing co-worker can derail an important project, cost you other opportunities, and even have you laid off. Giving money to a broke friend can not only drain your wallet but pull on your heart strings when you need the money and emotional reserves for yourself. Take out a piece of paper, a journal, a post it, or whatever works for you and decide on your top five priorities for the day, week, month, and year. Then decide to say no to people and situations that only serve as a major distraction from what is important to you and your wellbeing.
Next Steps: Want more tips? Buy the latest self-help book from RL Collins “The Hard Work of Happiness: 50 Life Lessons.”
