There are two different types of personal space: physical and metaphorical. Physical personal space means you don’t want someone standing too close to you or that you give your partner the space they need to recharge their battery. Metaphorically, personal space can be the idea of not crossing boundaries into other people’s lives, such as not discussing home life during work hours. All types of personal space are necessary to maintain healthy relationships and even just to stay healthy. Here are three reasons why you should maintain personal space.
1. Staying Healthy
Having boundaries between you and those around you helps ease anxiety and keep you healthy. Coming out of the pandemic, I am honestly shocked by how many people fail to keep personal space. During the pandemic, almost everyone maintained their six to ten feet distance whenever possible. In recent days, though, it seems like we have thrown that out of the window.
Personally, during the pandemic, I was never sick. It timed perfectly with my pregnancy, which started at the beginning of the pandemic. I honestly believe it was due to the personal space I was given in my everyday life and the masks. Of course, my personal experience doesn’t apply to everyone. But the more personal space you have, the more likely you are to feel better.
2. Relieving Anxiety
Anxiety is also a huge reason people should back up when speaking to someone. Having someone close to you while having a conversation can make someone, including me, anxious as hell. And when multiple people are doing it at the same time? That is just a meltdown waiting to happen. It may not be a trigger for everyone, so some people may be okay with it. But I know way more people like me who are triggered by someone standing super close to them or even randomly touching their bodies.
Creating a personal space in a relationship can help with anxiety as well. Forming boundaries with your partner helps build trust, which in itself reduces anxiety. Also, if you and your partner have been bickering lately, personal space is a great way to take a step back from feeling like you are walking on eggshells. It allows everyone involved to breathe and think things through.
3. Creating Respect
Having a personal boundary and maintaining a space between your home life and your work life helps maintain that balance. Whether it’s not talking about your work at home or not talking about your home life at work, maintaining those boundaries can help form respect in the workplace. It will also give you an idea of who actually respects you in the office and who expects you to work until you are burned out.
Oftentimes, people who are in charge of others do not talk about their personal life. They do not want those under them to feel like their home life is interfering with their work decisions or work ethic. Naturally, some struggles, especially bigger ones, will always spill over. It’s human nature. Having the boundary there will help to keep things more on the respectable side.
National Personal Space Day isn’t a very common national holiday. In fact, I have never heard of it before my Google search. Still, I think it’s a great reminder for people to take a step back when having a conversation and respect personal boundaries. Not everyone appreciates being close to others, and it might just keep someone else healthy.
Photo by Tobi from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-wearing-brown-poncho-facing-mountain-619949/
