Thank you both for your thoughts and your kind words. I do agree now on the separation of work/private life; unfortunately, this is not something I have followed in the past, and I actually find that a lot of my stress is caused by the overlap between the two. So I finally started implementing this policy, but the problem is that work is my only social outlet.

I wish there were a way to restructure my job or take some of my work off of my plate, but that is not a possibility in my position. The only way to reduce my work hours would be to start slacking off in some areas, which I actually have started doing out of sheer necessity - I literally can't get it all done if I put in 100% so I've been picking and choosing what to do at, say, 75%, but then I get stressed out because I know it's not my best work (although I have not yet received any negative feedback so maybe it's good enough). But even with that, at least two or three nights a week, I get no more than 4 hours of sleep. I can usually get some rest on the weekends, but I typically have to do at least some work then as well or I won't get it done during the week.

I think I have the same problem with setting boundaries, and I think I might have a perfectionist streak (but only with work - I let other areas fall apart all the time ) and so it probably is partly the job and partly me. I have that exact same feeling about having to justify every no, and I am especially bad at dealing with very aggressive people - the kind that don't accept the no and keep following up asking for more details as to why, why, why you said no until I find myself either giving in or making up a lie.

Ugh. I just realized that in typing this I have now possibly made myself late getting back from my lunch break. It never ends.