Discussions of burnout typically focus on self-care during your free time: sleep well, eat right, get regular exercise.  All very important! But no matter how well-rested, well-fed, and fit you are, you spend time on every shift working with patients who sap your supply of empathy by drawing you into their chaotic inner landscape. Over time, this can lead to emotional exhaustion: the first step toward burnout. Setting emotional boundaries that are firm but flexible can protect you from taking on the anxiety, anger, and dysphoria that your patients are looking to offload, and leave you at the end of your shift with a reassuring sense of who you are and why you do this job in the first place.