How To Use The 8 Dimensions Of Wellness To Set Up Healthy Boundaries

Intro

Hey what’s happening?!!…

This is Isai Rodriguez… host of the DadSplanation Podcast where I cater to the Professional Working Man, 40 and above, who’s looking to make positive changes to his health, lose weight, and become stronger overall through simple lifestyle changes.

I’m here to share inspiration, tips and proven lessons that I’ve personally learned and lived through in my 40+ years on this beautiful blue planet.

So today we’ll be talking about the Grimiest Things You Definitely Forget to Clean in Your Bathroom and then we’ll move on to our 2nd segment with How To Use The 8 Dimensions Of Wellness To Set Up Healthy Boundaries…

And before we get into that, if you’d like to continue the conversation, then get on over to podcast.dadsplanation.com/vip to get on the VIP Insider’s Community where I share more entertaining “behind-the-scenes” stories, tips, and hacks that’ll keep you feeling younger each and every day!

That’s podcast.dadsplanation.com/vip…

Again, that’s podcast.dadsplanation.com/vip… be in the know… starting right now

Also, don’t forget to rate me on Apple Podcasts… aka iTunes… OR wherever you’re listening to this Podcast episode… AND leave me a NICE… FAT… JUICY… 5-star-review and some absolutely beautiful words of why you love the show so much! It really helps me get the word out and it’s honestly the one place where your vote truly matters!

And now let’s move into our first segment… Healthy Conversations…

Healthy Conversations:   Grimiest Things You Definitely Forget to Clean in Your Bathroom

So me and the wife have kind of this verbal understanding…

She cooks and I clean.

So she shops for groceries, prepares and cooks the meal… and then… I clean up.

So I’m the one usually running the vacuum cleaner across the house, throwing the laundry in the washer, loading the dishwasher, taking out the trash, sweeptin, mopping, wiping down the counters, and cleaning the bathrooms.

And I gotta say… Bathrooms are pretty dang gross especially if you’ve got young boys like we do over here.

A lot goes on in there, and giving the shower, toilet, and sink a good scrub-a-dub-dub can really make you feel like a new person.

And whether you’re someone who keeps the bathroom spotless at all times or someone who waits until the ring around the tub is begging you to be cleaned…

… you’re probably still missing the dirtiest places in your bathroom.

And now… don’t get all paranoid just yet.

None of these spots are areas that your body actually touches as frequently as your toilet but even though they don’t, they can still harbor dirt and grime for sure.

So let’s talk about 4 of the dirtiest places you hardly clean in your bathroom.

Drains

Since you don’t ever see the inside of your drains, you don’t give them much thought until there’s an issue.

And the reality is that even though you don’t have a problem with clogged drains…

… soap scum and bacteria can easily build up and release mold spores or attract pests that breed in still water.

Let me ask you something… Have you ever wondered where those fruit flies are coming from even though you haven’t been eating fruit in your bathroom?

Something to think about!

You should really clean out your drains every 30 to 60 days just as a preventative measure and even more often than that if your drains tend to clog more regularly than not.

Now… to properly clean your drain, it’s recommended to remove the stopper and clean off any debris and buildup from the stopper and around the drain opening using a toothbrush or detail brush and a bathroom-specific cleaner, like a Tub & Tile Cleaning solution.

Then, pour a drain cleaner into the drains and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Actually, I shared a little DIY drain cleaner with my VIP community last week…

It’s super simple too… First you pour 1/2 cup of baking soda down the open drain, followed by 1/2 cup white vinegar.

Cover the drain and wait for the magic to happen.

After 15-20 minutes, pour boiling water down the drain to clear out the homemade mix…

This works well assuming there’s no serious clogging issue going on in there.

Behind the toilet

This is another spot we often forget to clean that can easily be thriving with germs…

And depending on how far away from the wall your toilet is, there’s typically about an inch or two at least of tile or whatever material your floor is made of and that’s the place that’s easily missed…

Dust can definitely collect in that little nook behind the toilet but not only that… but because of the toilet being there, this means moisture from the toilet itself can easily become an issue.

There might even be some backsplash from the toilet itself when flushing.

And it can really be a place where germs start hanging out.

So the next time you clean your floor, be sure to hit that dirty spot behind the toilet.

And if the space is super narrow and you can’t get down there with a mop, use whatever floor cleaner you use on a microfiber cloth to reach back there and give it a good wiping.

It’s a really easy place to forget to clean…

I’ve even forgotten that spot myself, and then I’ve gone back behind there with my rag and when I pull my cleaning cloth back and I’ll notice that it’s dirtier there than on the rest of the floor.

It’s crazy how dirty it gets back there…

Walls and ceilings

Not sure if you realize this but the walls and ceilings in your bathroom are moist environments in general and so that can help grow mold…

And sometimes the mold can be invisible especially if you flush with the seat up…

So everytime you flush and don’t put the seat down before you flush…

… you’ll have plumes of airborne particles and moisture from everything in your toilet that goes everywhere.

That being said… You should seriously consider cleaning your walls and ceiling every other week, or whenever you clean your bathroom.

And if you live in a humid climate area of the world or have a bathroom that traps a lot of moisture, you may need to clean your walls and ceiling more often than that… just an FYI

And it’s really not that hard actually…

So to clean the walls, just use a bathroom-specific cleaner because they normally have ingredients to help with mold and bacteria…

Spray or pour that Bad-Boy on a microfiber cloth to pick up dust, hair, and other fine particles that collect on your damp walls…

You might be surprised at how much you clean up off the walls alone.

Also, pay close attention to any fans that might be installed in the ceiling and make sure to wipe them down too…

Wipe down vents to remove dust buildup and if you’re cleaning for the first time or what I call “deep cleaning”… then you might want to consider wearing a mask to prevent any lung or sinus irritation from mold spores…

And while you’re at it… some cleaning gloves will help prevent mold from irritating your skin and causing a nasty skin reaction.

Shower curtain

Now… I don’t know about you… but I do my best to avoid touching my shower curtain while in the shower.

It’s just weird, it’s wet, and in my opinion… it’s nasty.

But even if you don’t ever touch it, that doesn’t mean that it’s not getting dirty.

If you look at the bottom of a shower curtain, especially the liner, it’s gonna be dirty and slightly discolored…

And that’s because when water fills up in the bottom of your shower, the liner soaks it up…

This leads to mold growing on your shower curtain or at a minimum, like a discoloration from the minerals in the tap water.

So to clean your shower curtain and liner, you can either throw them in the washing machine, or soak them overnight in water mixed with a scoop of OxyClean or something like that…

Another cool little hack that works great with plastic shower curtains: Take the shower curtain down, wet the walls, and press your shower curtain against the wall.

It should easily stick on the flat wet surface so that you can use your cleaner of choice to scrub away the mildew.

The key to all of this cleaning is to stay ahead of it all…

Make sure you spend the time to clean up your bathroom because a dirty bathroom can actually lead to other minor health issues.

And that’s pretty much it! And so NOW…

On to our SECOND segment… “Mighty Man”

Mighty Man:   How To Use The 8 Dimensions Of Wellness To Set Up Healthy Boundaries

Let’s face it, you guys… I’m sure anyone of you can give me a thousand reasons why you feel 2020’s been a rough year for your mental health.

It’s taken our eight dimensions of wellness and compromised them and then flipped them up-side-down.

And if you’re wondering what they are…

The eight dimensions include physical health, emotional health, social health, intellectual health, spiritual health, financial health, occupational health, and environmental health…

They all effectively overlap with each other and in 2020 these forces have been disturbed in a real dramatic way for many.

So listen… We’re multi-dimensional beings… We never operate in just one area of that framework.

So we need to be aware that all of those things are interconnected.

So for an example… you know how there’s often a mind-body connection when it comes to physiological health?… Like… someone struggling with depression might not just feel it emotionally but might also feel a physical fatigue.

There’s a phrase in the IT Virtualization World that says “Everything software related ties back to something hardware related”…

… and that just basically means that when you install or configure an operating system like WIndows or Ubuntu Server…

… each individual virtual component (like the virtual CPU and Memory) ties back to the physical CPU and memory on the server computer itself.

Sorry for using the IT analogy… I know it’s boring and dry to some but as I was talking about the example of someone being depressed could also feel physical fatigue, it just came to mind…

So anyway, this is the same concept when we’re talking about the mind-body connection… it’s that, everything you might feel mentally can and often does manifest physically…

And so someone dealing with feelings of anxiety might experience gut-health issues or struggle with breathing while they’re feeling overwhelmed.

People have often mentioned that when they’re dealing with those types of things also…

… that it impacts their social self care… it impacts their intellectual self care. So you see… all of those things are combined and connected. They overlap.

And all of those things require us to have healthy boundaries.

And that’s why each of the eight dimensions of wellness themselves can serve as helpful guideposts for setting up effective boundaries.

These boundaries, in turn, protect our mental health—whether it’s because of the disastrous year we had in 2020, or otherwise.

We can learn how to use each of the eight dimensions to maintain our sanity.

So now the question is How do we use the 8 dimensions of wellness to set up healthy boundaries…

Let’s start with the first and what most consider the most important…

Physical

And now… A physical boundary refers to anything that protects the physical body.

With the current pandemic, this manifests most in your preferred method of social distancing.

A physical boundary could be your train of thought saying ‘I don’t want to give anyone a hug during the pandemic’ or ‘I don’t want to shake hands with anyone during the pandemic’ …

All the way up to ‘I don’t want to be touched at all’ or ‘I don’t want anyone around me without their mask on during the pandemic’

Physical boundaries also set a precedence of “how comfortable I am with you in my world” so obviously you probably wouldn’t stand as close to your boss as you would your significant other… you feel me?

Sometimes just keeping people at a certain distance from you is all you need to set or maintain the other 7 dimensions.

And speaking of “the other 7”…

Social

It might be easier to respect social boundaries right now because…

Welp… We’re living through a pandemic, and we’re all laying low.

But you can also conceptualize this boundary in terms of setting up fences with respect to technological connections.

Social boundaries could be you putting your phone on “do not disturb” mode during working hours, because texting will distract you and throw you off track.

Or it could look something like not picking up a spontaneous FaceTime or other video chat because, Dang It… I’m an introvert and so you best be setting up a FaceTime invite on my Google calendar before calling me.

I’m just saying…

Emotional

Now setting up emotional boundaries can mean deciding what to share versus what not to share.

It’s also about recognizing when you’re responsible for your feelings and also recognizing that other people are responsible for their feelings.

So it basically involves knowing the difference between being someone’s friend and being someone’s therapist.

So if you are struggling with something, you have to ask yourself: How can I take responsibility over this feeling and do the work that I need to combat it…

You know?… Like… I can support you and I can be empathetic to your needs, but you’re still responsible over yourself to do the work that you need to manage your emotional wellness.

And so setting up those emotional boundaries will allow you to NOT become a therapist to others… AND… maintain your own sanity at the same time.

Spiritual

This one is pretty simple, actually… and comes down to plain old R-E-S-P-E-C-T

So using the spiritual dimension of wellness as a boundary simply means respecting peoples’ belief systems.

As a personal example, a spiritual boundary I have with my parents is attending Church (obviously, during non-pandemic times, of course)… uh, attending for a select few holidays and opting out of daily or weekly sermons since my closest spiritual beliefs are more about science than organized religion.

I can respect other peoples’ religious beliefs but at the end of the day, they’re not my beliefs so I don’t necessarily follow any of them.

Mind you that I believe in God or a higher being or the Universe… I believe there are good and bad energies out there and forces at work, I just don’t follow any specific religion.

So I don’t get into arguments or discussions about religion unless I know that the other person is just as respectful and open minded about my views and my standpoint as I am of theirs…

It’s just not gonna happen… shit, I don’t even talk much religion with my Wife, to be honest!

So yea… keep your sanity and set those spiritual boundaries from the get go!

Intellectual

This one’s another “RESPECT” thing… So intellectual boundaries have to do with respecting people’s innate curiosity and areas of interest or expertise.

Sooo… Like… Think about how you’d feel if you… Let’s say… you worked really hard to earn a doctorate of education and someone had the audacity (the cojones) to say you shouldn’t use your title of Doctor.

Setting up a boundary in this case might mean simply re-asserting that the degree and title of doctor was fairly earned and that you won’t listen to that kind of BS… you’re not having it!

Financial

Simply put… Financial boundaries refer to your relationship with money…

For instance… during Pre-pandemic times, it might have meant opting out of expensive outings when there are bills at home to be paid…

But currently… or because of the pandemic… It might mean recognizing that you’re leaning too hard on retail therapy when you can’t afford to do so right now and taking the actionable steps to change that.

So if you find yourself overspending because it cheers you up OR you feel like you need to make more money… just remember… you are responsible for yourself and your actions.

By all means, if you want or need to treat yourself to something… do it! But do it responsibly… and if need be… Find ways to make more income… more money.

But until then, you have to learn how to live within your financial means (aka your budget) and gather the resources that can help you meet whatever financial issues and obligations you have.

Occupational

An occupational boundary is really straightforward to understand… it refers to your career (obviously) and when it is that you decide you’re on versus off the clock.

You can think of it as what people call “work-life-balance”… where they equally prioritize the demands of their career and the demands of their personal life.

It’s a reflection of trying to balance work and leisure… and this can show up in your life in so many different ways depending on your job.

Like if you’re working from home (as I am, currently), it could be YOU deciding to log off at 6PM on the dot.

If you’re a Nurse at an ER, it can be you not entertaining random COVID-19 questions from Facebook friends’ after you’ve had a long and hard shift.

If you do Marketing and a friend asks you for some help with building out an email marketing funnel, it could be you asserting yourself by saying something like…

“Of course, buddy! My rates are XYZ dollars per project! Why don’t we schedule a time where I can grab some of my planning tools so we can hash out the details and get that up and running for your ASAP”

You just want to assert yourself and let them know that they can’t take advantage of you just because they know you…

… now, I’ve done this plenty of times in the past and when it comes time to pay, depending on the person, I may give them a discount or just not accept their payment.

But the goal here is to set those boundaries between your Personal and Professional lives.

And I speak from experience when I say that you most certainly DO NOT want those two worlds to bleed over on each other… you don’t want them to overlap! It’s not good in any way and it’s bad business, in my opinion…

Environmental

So finally we’re at the last boundary… and this one is just as important as all the other because as I mentioned earlier, they all live in harmony.

So if you were thinking whether or not environmental boundaries refer to your environment… then you thought right!

When we talk about environmental boundaries… this could refer to the world at large (like on a global scale)… or it can be on a smaller scale within your own personal world.

Setting up an environmental boundary could be something as simple as asking your roommate to not leave their dirty dishes on the coffee table OR even just asking your partner to knock on the door before entering a room.

It’s all about cultivating your own safe space…in fact, that’s what all of these boundaries are all about…

They’re all about setting up your own personal “Safe Space” physically and mentally.

Especially in these pandemic times… there’s so much going on with COVID and other political SHTUFF… you really need to keep grounded. Really keep your head on straight. Create that safe zone for yourself so you can easily get through these challenging times.

Closing

That’s it you guys… That’s my show for today!

I hope you found some valuable information here and if nothing else, I hope I’ve entertained you for a few minutes and was able to bring a little man-ly sunshine to your day.

Thanks for taking some time out of your day to listen to me… it’s very much appreciated!

On next week’s episode, we’ll be going over Is Red Meat Really Bad for You or Not? so if you’re like most, you definitely don’t want to miss out on that!

And if you’d like to continue the conversation with me, then get on over to podcast.dadsplanation.com/vip to get on the VIP Insider’s community where I share even more “raw-behind-the-scenes” stories, tips, and hacks that’ll keep you feeling younger and younger… each and every day!

That’s podcast.dadsplanation.com/vip…

Again, that’s podcast.dadsplanation.com/vip… be in the know… starting right now!

Also, don’t forget to rate me on Apple Podcasts… aka iTunes… OR wherever you’re listening to this Podcast episode… AND leave me a NICE… FAT… JUICY… 5-star-review and some absolutely beautiful words of why you love the show so much!

It really helps me get the word out and it’s honestly the one place where your vote truly matters!

Until our next chat… Take care!