Dr. Stephanie Sarkis

You're still responsible for seeking out help for it.

And still you should apologize if you've upset someone because of your lateness.

And that has nothing to do with guilt or shame.

It's just being responsible to other people.

There's also the thing of, you know, if you care about people and you're empathic, you text somebody and go, hey, I'm running late.

Or you tell the person, you know what, I'm late.

You have every right to get up and go.

And then as the person that is waiting for that person, you can say, you know what?

Here's my limit.

Here's my boundary.

I'm going to wait about 20 minutes and I want to text that person.

And if I don't hear from them, I'm going to go.

And so that's the natural logical consequence.

And that happens because your time is valuable, too.

Set timers, set timers for everything.

And you can have timers that talk to you.

You can have your watch will give you a little ding or vibration when you need to do something.

That's essential.

And also, again, if you feel like this is impacting your quality of life, seek an evaluation from a mental health professional.

My pleasure.