Setting boundaries

How do you maintain a private life?

[@plantkween] Whew chile. Boundaries are very important. Saying no is very important. Self-care is really important. Take care of yourself.

[@newyorknico] So New York Nico and Nick Heller, I mean, we're the same person. There's really no differences there, but, you know, I do need to set up boundaries. I do need to have like a personal life and a public life. There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes that people don't necessarily know about. You know, you don't want to a hundred per cent be your social media persona. Otherwise, you'll have nothing for yourself and the people who are closest to you

[@meganjaynecrabbe] You can share as much as you're comfortable with. It's great for your audience to feel connected to you, to feel like they know you, but you don't owe them every single detail of that private life. You can set the boundary wherever feels comfortable for you.

[@kali.ledger] So for me, I'm a very private person as it is, but making sure that I'm 100% comfortable with what I'm posting. That could, for example, relate to my personal space or my family members or my body.

Where do you draw the line?

[@presidentkennedy] I used to be so reckless with posting on my Instagram Stories. Just posting my location, in my neighbourhood, posting restaurants, walking around, just minding my own business, not thinking a thing of it. And then one day, I feel like I just had an epiphany where I was like, "This isn't safe. Like, I need to stop doing this."

[@kali.ledger] Please, don't share your address, your number, banking details, anything that people can take advantage of. And tell your family members and your friends to respect your privacy and theirs because not everything has to be shared.

[@presidentkennedy] There's two sides to this. One, it's great for my audience to feel like we're cousins and that we know each other, but then it can also be annoying when people are a little too familiar and they act like they know you when they don't.

How do you disconnect?

[@kali.ledger] For me, I used to be able to answer all of my DMs, read every comment. And now, it's kind of hard to keep track of everything and just not beating myself up about it and realising that I can't be a creator 24/7 is really important.

[@meganjaynecrabbe] You can't continue to be the best creator that you can be or the best functional human being, if you are giving every ounce of your energy to anyone who reaches and grabs for some. So, that was a big boundary for me to set. And it's meant that I've been able to carry on and continue creating work that's accessible to everyone, not just individuals who come in my DMs with their hands up.