Balancing Life with a Vestibular Disorder

By Cheryl Wylie, MSc (PT)

I was listening to a podcast recently with The Ultimate Health Podcast and Nedra Glover Tawwab and the topic was on boundaries. It got me thinking about the balancing act we all play in life and the challenges my patients have balancing peoples expectations of them with their vestibular disorder. Setting boundaries is imperative to ensure you are only doing as much as you can handle. And more importantly, that those activities are ones that you actually want to do!

So How do I Choose my Boundaries?

Understanding your symptoms and triggers can help guide you in setting boundaries, as well as reflecting on priorities and whether or not an activity makes you happy. The hard part comes, however, when you have to uphold those boundaries. Remember:

You can't rely on others to uphold your boundaries - this is on you

• If your boundary is no emails after 5pm, you need to ignore that email that comes in a 7:45pm. It's not on the email sender to know they can't email you after 5pm, it's on you to log off and address those emails the next morning.

The reaction you get from others may not be what you were hoping for

• Not everyone is going to like that you aren't always accessible to them, and that has to be okay. This can be one of the more difficult aspect of setting a boundary, so taking your time to work through this feeling is important.

It's okay to adjust your boundaries as you need or want

• Maybe your symptoms are improving with therapy, or maybe you decide that boundary was too much or maybe it's not actually enough? You are allowed to adjust your boundaries as you go. Remember, these boundaries are to make sure you can live your best life, and that may take some fine tuning.

And the even hardest part may come when you have to create and uphold boundaries with YOURSELF. That's right! Don't just think boundaries are something between you and someone else. Are you upholding yourself to a standard you aren't able to maintain?

It can sometimes feel like a balancing act living with a vestibular disorders, but I promise you, setting boundaries can be a huge asset in succeeding and living your best life!