Personal space is a private, intimate and exclusive territory that does not concern anyone but us, there should never be an invasion of personal space, neither of us nor of ours, it is not only our physical problems, but also other less tangible problems that can be We talk about things like excessive noise, the emotions that others transmit to us , or the overload of information and the constant interruptions we experience in our moments of loneliness or intimacy.
It is often said that there are people as delicate as elephants: an elephant annoys many people, either occupying other people’s space, trampling rights or invading privacy, this usually happens a lot in our work environments, which undoubtedly affects our productivity generating a high level of stress and discomfort.
- However.
- Some aspects cannot be set aside.
- Personal space not only refers to centimeters that are tolerated by others that are physically placed near us.
- In that proximity where each other’s voice.
- Smell and body heat become uncomfortable or even unbearable.
- It is also a bubble that can burst in the face of any type of psychosensory stimulation.
- And there is also the invasion of personal space.
That is, aspects such as furniture, decoration, lack of lighting or the smell of a certain environment can also be central to stress production, other examples would be not being able to have a time interval for oneself, or be monitored and All these situations are clear moments of invasion of personal space.
Ana and Paulo have just been parents and feel exhausted, the stress they experience has nothing to do with their baby, but with those around them, their family, friends and colleagues, in the hospital saw their personal space constantly invaded by these people. , always close and excited. With all the good intentions of the world, they took turns seeing the newborn, taking him in his arms and giving a thousand advice to the new parents.
In this small example, it is possible to see how our environment passes many times through the space that delimits our personal bubble, which we must preserve only for ourselves. Not only are we talking about getting on a crowded elevator to feel uncomfortable, but also the most serious and frequent attacks that are the result of the actions of even our closest and most expensive people. Hence the need to set limits.
Thus, complaints in the offices of psychologists often reflect this reality, there are people who have spent half their lives feeling unable to protect their personal space, this inability to manage one’s personal limitations generates a very high emotional cost, since it completely weakens the deepest. fundamentals of our psychological architecture.
To take into account, for example, that defining, dimensioning and protecting our personal space is a very important key to survival, it is also an exercise in self-knowledge to understand that we all have our barriers prohibited, lines that no one should. cross because that’s where our self-esteem is, where our balance and precious identity reside.
Ralph Adolph and Daniel P. Kennedy, neurologists at Caltech University in the United States, have discovered that there is a structure in our brain that decides where the limits of our personal spaces are. It’s the amygdala, that little region associated with so many functions, including fear and our survival instinct.
This discovery is undoubtedly very interesting, and reveals something very important: it is our brain that measures the personal limits of each one, it is like a button, a personal alarm that tells us that something or someone is bothering us, that a The invasion of personal space and our privacy is underway, which endangers our integrity until we feel threatened, in addition, it is worth saying that the limits are different for each person, some people experience a feeling of agony and stress with very little, while others, in turn, have a much higher tolerance.
In turn, proxemia, a science that studies the effects of our interrelationships on the use of space, reminds us that one of our greatest sources of anxiety is to realize how outdated we feel every day in all aspects. less physical space for anything, but now we also get a lot of stimuli everywhere, so much pressure and interaction that it costs to put filters on everything, we let everything come to us, but does it envelop us and imprison us?
We must be able to manage our personal limitations, here we are talking about learning to place physical but also psychological distances to all external dynamics and relationships that can potentially attack our intimacy and thus become powerful sources of stress for our lives. colleagues, other times it is a noisy environment beyond what we are aware of, very full, tight, hot or anything that makes it oppressive.
At other times, it is clear that we are unable to say no, to know and to specify what we can and cannot tolerate. Being explicit in showing where our personal limitations are will help us to have a much better relationship between us, because only in this way will we create a more respectful, productive and, above all, healthy social environment around us.