Boundaries: Finding Balance Through Co-Regulation
Welcome to the Boundaries chapter of our Survivor’s Guide. Setting healthy boundaries is essential—not just for maintaining our own mental and emotional health, but also for preserving the Earth’s natural limits. In human relationships, co-regulation describes how our nervous systems instinctively tune to those around us. Similarly, the planet’s boundaries function like guardrails, ensuring Earth’s life-support systems remain in balance.
Personal Boundaries: Co-Regulation In Relationships
Why It Matters
According to insights from the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching, when individuals neglect their relational boundaries - absorbing others’ stress or overextending themselves - burnout can result. Breath work, mindfulness, and frameworks like the psychologist Carl Jung’s "Hero’s Journey" remind us that personal transformation often requires stepping back, reflecting, and re-establishing healthy boundaries. Tools like motivational interviewing (MI), appreciative inquiry (AI), and cognitive behavior coaching (CBC) can guide us in this process of self-discovery and interpersonal harmony.
Survivor’s Guide Check-list
Define Your Emotional Bandwidth
Use journaling or a mood-tracking app to note when you feel overstretched or energized by social interactions. Adjust your availability accordingly.Engage in Active Breath Breaks
Practice short (2–3 minute) breathwork sessions during stressful conversations or work tasks. Regulating your breathing helps you maintain composure and emotional clarity.Co-Create Healthy Dialogues
Apply motivational interviewing techniques—ask open-ended questions, express empathy, and affirm strengths—to establish mutual understanding in relationships.Conduct a “Hero’s Journey” Reflection
Map your own story: Where are you in your personal quest? Acknowledging trials, allies, and growth points can clarify which boundaries you need to set next.Visualize a Protective Space
Draw from appreciative inquiry principles by envisioning a mental buffer or “safe zone” when entering potentially draining interactions, helping you maintain emotional stability. This guide from Virginia Tech is a useful guide for conversations!
Featured Resources
Podcast 1: Third Degree Burnout – A Survivor’s Guide (Personal Focus)
Ready for a deeper dive into interpersonal co-regulation?
Stories of personal growth from individuals who redefined their emotional limits without sacrificing close relationships.
Expert voices on using breath work, Hero’s Journey exercises, and guided self-reflection to navigate boundary-setting.
Practical examples of how MI, AI, and CBC/CBT can create positive shifts in relationship dynamics.
Try out our Self Reflection Tool #showyourburnoutstripes to visualize how and where you might set new boundaries for healthier co-regulation.
Planetary Boundaries: Co-Regulation At A Global Scale
Why It Matters
The Stockholm Resilience Center introduced the concept of Planetary Boundaries (featured in our film THIRD DEGREE BURNOUT). These are thresholds humanity must not exceed if we want to preserve Earth’s stability. Unfortunately, several of these boundaries (such as climate change and biosphere integrity) are already under severe strain. Much like personal co-regulation, Earth’s systems co-regulate each other - when one boundary is breached, others become destabilized. It’s a dynamic interplay that demands urgent attention to prevent runaway burnout on a planetary scale.
Survivor’s Guide Check-list
Track Your Environmental Footprint
Use carbon or water footprint calculators to see how your lifestyle intersects with global limits—and identify actionable ways to reduce it.Safeguard Local Biodiversity
Join a citizen science project or habitat restoration effort, helping to preserve or restore vital ecosystems in your area.Volunteer for Policy Advocacy
Lend your time or skills to organizations that push for legislative measures aligned with the Planetary Boundaries framework (e.g., tighter emissions caps).Adopt “One-In, One-Out” Consumption
When you acquire something new (clothing, gadget, etc.), let go of an old item responsibly. This approach helps curb your overall resource use.Join a "Climate Fresk" workshop
Developed by a French nonprofit, Climate Fresk helps groups of individuals learn about the causes, correlations and implications of climate change on human society and life on Earth as we know it.
Featured Resources
Podcast 2: Third Degree Burnout – A Survivor’s Guide (Planetary Focus)
Curious about how co-regulation applies to the environment?
Insights from leading scientists on mitigating climate change while respecting other critical planetary processes.
Case studies of countries and communities that have successfully scaled back resource use or reclaimed damaged ecosystems.
Global collaboration strategies for stabilizing Earth’s life-support systems before irreversible tipping points are crossed.
Try out our Self Reflection Tool #showyourburnoutstripes to picture how your local actions tie into global boundaries.
Boundaries In Action: Restoring Balance At Every Level
Just as healthy boundaries foster stable, thriving relationships, respecting planetary boundaries helps ensure that Earth’s interconnected systems can co-regulate effectively. By acknowledging both our personal emotional limits and the planet’s ecological limits, we cultivate resilience on all fronts.
Before you move on to another chapter in the Survivor’s Guide, ask yourself:
Where in my personal life do I feel the need for stronger boundaries or clearer communication?
Which planetary boundary resonates most in my community, and how can I help protect it?
How can my personal and global boundary-setting efforts reinforce each other for greater impact?
Boundaries aren’t barriers - they are pathways to healthier, more harmonious coexistence, both within our relationships and throughout our shared home. Keep navigating The Survivor’s Guide
