Dear clinician. Dear academic.

I’ve been learning what boundaries actually look like.

And honestly?

I’m still figuring them out.

Being both an academic and a fieldwork coordinator, I spent a long time believing that being good at my job meant being available all the time.

For students.

For clinicians.

For fieldwork sites.

For anyone who needed something.

Because I wanted to help.

Because I didn’t want to let anyone down.

And if I’m being really honest…because somewhere along the way, I started tying my worth to how responsive I was.

So, I deleted my work email off my phone.

A tiny decision.

(that felt surprisingly big)

Because here’s what I’ve realized:

If something is truly urgent, people know how to reach me.

Everything else can wait until tomorrow.

We aren’t meant to be accessible 24/7.

We’re allowed to have evenings.

We’re allowed to have weekends.

We’re allowed to be fully present with the people sitting across the dinner table from us.

The work will still be there tomorrow.

You deserve time to rest.

Time to breathe.

Time to remember who you are outside of your job.

Time to simply be.

Because becoming the professional you hope to be should never require abandoning the person you already are.

So here’s your gentle encouragement - from someone who needed to hear it herself:

Delete the work email off your phone.

The world will keep turning.

And you deserve boundaries, not burnout.

TK