My awareness around environments perhaps borders obsessive, but only because I know first hand just how damaging the wrong environment can be to one’s mental health and energy.
It doesn’t matter how much work you do on yourself in terms of personal development, mindset or meditation practices, if you keep placing yourself in an unsupportive or toxic environment then you will simply undo all your efforts.
I had a chat with the lovely Helen Sanderson on the #NoFilterNeeded podcast this week and we were talking about how self-care and self-respect are linked with how you keep your home. While I’ll leave these particular areas of discussion for you to listen on the podcast, I do want to say that your physical surroundings have a huge impact on your energy levels. When you have clutter around you it’s distracting to the eye and draining on your senses. Not only is it important to keep your workspace tidy so that you can get on diligently with your work tasks, but keeping your home tidy at all times (not just when people are coming over!) is hugely important for your overall wellbeing. If you are waking up to mess each day then it’s going to cloud your thinking before the day has even started and the thought of washing piling up or having to find that missing bank statement at some point will be lurking in your mind and distracting you at intervals throughout the day.
Now, we’re not all saints, and housekeeping tasks can often fall to the back of the list when workload or social engagements take priority, but keeping on top of it is really important for your state of mind. Keeping things on the outside of you in order helps to keep the inside of you in order too. It promotes clarity with your thoughts and promotes higher productivity. The act of clearing space and ordering things is actually an energising activity to do so if you’re feeling foggy in the head, instead of taking a tea break, try having a little tidy up around you and see the what it does for your brain fog and energy levels.
Another thing that boosts energy levels and promotes creative thinking is new surroundings. Always make sure that you take regular breaks from your usual surroundings whether that’s from the office in the week or from home on the weekend. We are energised by new surroundings as they reboot our minds by refreshing our views. The more we see, the more we experience, and the better we grow and develop. They say “change is as good as a rest” and it’s so true. If you are feeling stale and unable to lift yourself out of your funk for a few days then get in the car or hop on a train and go somewhere new. Sometimes we get ourselves into a right hole and it’s not possible for us to think ourselves out of it, so physically placing yourself in a completely new environment can re-open your mind and re-set your thinking – go on, try it, it works!
Now onto the nitty-gritty. People and places. This isn’t necessarily quite as easy to ‘clean up’ as there is often more emotion attached here. People who are not supportive of you or who don’t have your best interests at heart are toxic to you. Similarly, people who are not inline with your values and don’t want the same things out of life as you will veer you off course. No matter how far back the friendship goes, how profitable the client is, or how much you believe you can bat their energy off, if you repeatedly place yourself in their company then it will drain the life out of you.
Just like plants need sunlight to grow – you need your light too – you need to be relaxed and open in order to be inspired and motivated by the people you spend your time with. If you find yourself in the presence of people who cause you to be defensive or force you to ‘tread on eggshells’ then this will drain your energy and steal your focus and joy. Similarly, if you are spending time with people who you don’t have much in common with then you are going to feel isolated which is damaging to your mental health and also tempts you into low vibe conversations for the sake of it just to feel connected and included – such is the human condition – it’s a slippery slope from there.
You may think this is a bit “woo woo” but we really do absorb other people’s energies. We aren’t just words and actions there is more to us than that, we communicate on subconscious levels, so as strong as you think you are on a conscious level to disregard conversations and actions, every time you place yourself in the company of people that aren’t aligned with you then you are setting yourself further back from reaching your goals and ambitions and not stopping yourself from living an inspired life.
So get really honest with yourself.
Who is really serving you and supporting your growth?
And who could be dragging you down to a lower level and moving you away from your goals and ambitions?
And then brainstorm some ways on how you can spend more time with the people that inspire and energise you and how you can limit your time spent with those that do the opposite.
If you want any support with revamping your environment then I’m there with bells on!
You can always reach out to me with an email or on social media and I will be all to happy to help you – I love breaking through this stuff! 😉
Keep shining, keep smiling!
Camilla x
