Today we're talking about a topic that we must be aware of if we want to live life better. It's called buffering.

 

What is buffering? My definition is that it’s a temporary fix to a negative emotion. It creates a false sense of happiness that leads to a negative consequence.  

 

Examples of buffering can include: overworking, overexercising, overeating, jumping from relationship to relationship, reaching for our phone over and over, excessive shopping, bingewatching Netflix. 

 

In this episode I’m going to walk you through more examples, how to figure out if you’re buffering, and what you can do about it.

You can get all the free resources mentioned at: https://www.dinacataldo.com/episode17

So yesterday, I had a really difficult conversation with someone who was at one point extremely important in my life. It was one of those conversations that’s heart wrenching, but you know you have to have it. And I thought about how difficult, or even impossible, it would have been for me to have this conversation even three years ago, and that in part has to do with what I’m going to talk to you about today. 

 

Being aware of my buffering behaviors really helped me stay present in this painful conversation and stay true to the boundaries I needed to create for myself with this person. Reflecting on the way I handled our talk, I can still see where there’s room for improvement, I’m not perfect. But I think I did a pretty darn good job navigating it. And I learned a lot for the next time I have a difficult conversation with someone. Which I hope isn’t for a long time because they’re pretty exhausting. 

Learn more about how to work through buffering habits here: https://www.dinacataldo.com/episode17