MSR #3 - Environment Disruption

MSR = Mental Struggle Reset. That's the terminology and the name of the series here. If this is your first article, know that there are (or will be depending on when you read this) other articles around this topic. Look for the tag if you're struggling or looking to see the things I do.

Oh yes, the idea of change; often makes people shudder, induces them with anxiety, and just devolves in a lot of self doubt. I tell you though, if you're struggling mentally, it's in your head, but it's also where you are, and what your senses pick up. It's what you intake and what you notice. It's a swarm of things that in a mental struggle, tend to just feel like noise, which ends up keeping you in your own mind, where things are dark, wet, and heavy.

Your environment can be a catalyst to helping you get out of whatever rut you're in. However, I must note much like the last article - this isn't aimed at solving your problems, but rather giving you back a fire and an energy that will allow you to get to the heart of the issues you face. Environment though, is quite a lot more than just "a place you exist in," but it's rather the feeling and vibe of the places you operate in. Changing that up, changes the way you operate in a lot of different ways.

Here's a few ways that I disrupt my environment to where I can break a little bit of the mental struggle curse.

Specifically here, think of a place where you spend a lot of time; it might be an office, a living room, the kids rooms, the backyard, your job site, or something else. This is what we want to focus on. I already hear some fear out there - don't worry. I am not here asking you to upheave and change everything, no, I am simply asking you to change the way it looks a little bit.

Things like this seem very superficial on the surface, because you're probably thinking to yourself "so my couch is here, so what? I can barely get off of it." I get it. You aren't trying to break free though, you're simply trying to break a cycle, and your environment plays a huge role in your daily cyclical habits. Your workouts are here, your job is here, your "you" time is here, your dinner time is here, etc. etc. If we can disrupt that, it sends your brain into a bit of a frenzy; and that's exactly what we want.

Think of it like dust. If you've got a shelf on your wall, and you don't touch it ever, over time it begins to collect dust. Maybe it gets humid and that dust is now wet and that shelf has to hold a lot more than just books or collectibles. When you want to put something else up there, you know you have to clean it, and that's quite defeating. You can't move or shift anything either because there's clumps of wet dust up there.

That might be your life in this moment. Sure, it works and you make it through everyday, but it's weighed down and restricted by the lack of movement and "dust collection" on it.

There's also something else that applies when cleaning dust; when you clean dust, it gets everywhere. You wipe it, get a chunk, but then particles fly into the air and stuff, yet it becomes clean.

It's the same thing here, and often I apply it multiple times a year. I reorganize our pantry. I clean out some closets. 2-3 times a year I completely redo my office where I work and do hobbies. I fix up the garage. I change the layout of the living room.

Clean is also a change!

And let's also not forget that cleanliness is also different. It might not seem that bad, heck, even normal that you wake up and walk into a dirty room. Trust me, when you wake up one day and it's spotless, there's a slight difference and you'll feel it.

Point of the game; don't let your environment stay the same forever. Change it.

It might sound strange, but things like taste, smell, and feelings will play a huge part in the way you feel. I have grown to specifically love audio, but it might be different for you. In fact, I guarantee it will.

It seem like a lot of bogus thinking a certain smell, sound, or taste could affect the way you feel, however there's science behind it. I encourage you though not to buy into "magic fixes" - like for example if you search online for "smells to make you focus" you will find a ton of articles on how someone couldn't ever focus and they bought a cinnamon scented Scentsy brick and their life was forever changed and they could now focus for 6 hours straight. It's a load of crap, they're trying to take money from you.

Life advice: Don't just automatically believe everything on the internet - even if it says it's "backed by science." Just because they say so, doesn't make it true. Try it yourself.

However, I encourage you to try. Sometimes taste, smells, and sounds can actually affect the way you feel. If your bathroom always smells like poo and sewage because you never clean it, there's some attachment in your mind there. So when you do clean it and it smells like fresh linen, you are rewiring that attachment in your brain. That same methodology can be applied more broadly.

In fact, that same methodology can be used for habits, work, scheduling, and many more cases across life. It's what I like to call discipline by association.

I'll give you a few examples that I implemented at some points that actually help.

• Cinnamon and citrus scents do help with focus. If you want something a little more "science backed" - also try thieves oil or frankincense. They aren't magical fixes, but they help just bump your mind in the right direction.
• I went from listening to heavy metal to lofi hip hop playlists during my focus time. I am also Christian, so there's sometimes where when I feel down, I'll play worship or piano ballads.
• Tasting sugar tends to make me unfocused. I replaced my snacks with more... savory ones and I found less struggle to focus.
• Touch - something I haven't mentioned, but I use physical paper instead of the computer and I found it sticks a little more. I also tend to keep things around me to keep my fingers busy to help when I am thinking.

I challenge you to go to places, areas, or even meetings or groups where you aren't comfortable. You'll be surprised how effective it is.

Unlike the previous section, this is "science based" but I won't bore you with that stuff. I really just want to help you.

Here's the thing; you unknowingly build habits through comfort. Why do you think people go back to things like smoking, alcohol, or even our phones nowadays? It's because it's comfortable, familiar, and easy to get and understand. Not having those things in there that have been there virtually forever, feels both wrong and uncomfortable. Guess what? You break those patterns and habits by living in the discomfort until it becomes comfort. The more you resort back to your comforts, the more you just end being in uncomfortable situations that you avoid to be comfortable.

So the challenge here is to put yourself in the uncomfortable situation. Take the step out of comfort. Trust me, it builds something in you through the suffering that will turn out beautiful on the other side. Here's a few examples from my personal life -

• Cigarettes - I did it cold turkey. For a week, I was dead sick. For several weeks after, I suffered through headaches, irritation, until it finally broke it's hold. Do I crave it? Sure, but it's much easier now to choose the comfort of NOT smoking.
• Public speaking - Not a fan of big crowds either, so public speaking was definitely not a forte of mine. To be fair, it still isn't, but I can do it now. I just learned that I have to be prepared.
• Career advancement - I have never been a leader, nor did I ever intend to be, however, I just dove in and took a leadership position and figured it out as I went.

Whatever it is for you - try it. Do the thing that sucks. Be in the challenge. Take it and run with it.

This may sound weird, but a lot of times we just end up going through the motions where we are, but subtle changes often affect the way we operate. However, we start reacting to the environment instead of controlling it, it becomes a different game. You have less of a burden and more of just a role.

Unless things being "yours and your responsibility," you want to change the game to something different, where you are a part of, or serving the things around you instead.

I first applied this idea to my work. As a middle manager, I often to tend feel the weight of everything on my shoulders; a team of folks and their feelings, my boss, his boss, the goals of the company, the escalations and requests of other teams, performance reviews, etc. etc. etc. - there's so much. It's overwhelming and I never felt like I was living up to what I wanted to be. The same thing could be said of the way I felt as a father, a husband, or anything else.

One day, I just simply asked myself... what if I had no expectations? I am supposed to show up to work... and do what? Being a husband means... what? And basically I just sat around waiting to see what the "what" actually was. Turns out, most of what that weight was... was actually self imposed.

Normally, I'd pack you with more info... but this specific idea trails into the 4th one.

Now instead of controlling your environment, you're directed by it. It helps to let that weight off.

There's that famous saying that you are the mix of the 5 people closest to you. They are in fact, your environment. Let me tell you a little anecdote.

I once worked with a person, and this person I thought was great. They had my back a lot, they heard my ideas, and it seemed good... until I started realizing how miserable I was getting at work everyday. It boggled me for a while... then I started noticing that when I talked to this particular person, I felt like garbage. This person was often overcritical of the company and leadership, emotionally was just full of anger and frustration, and constantly complained. While yes, technical they checked all the boxes for a "good coworker," they were killing my vibe everyday. I slowly drifted away, and suddenly I enjoyed my job again.

Now I ain't saying that you need cut a bunch of people off and move on, but you do need to take a good look at the people around you... are they for you? Do they hold you back? What kind of person are you afterwards?

It's simple, yet very difficult. You need all the energy you can get; you don't need people that consume it.

Your environment will always play a key role in where you're headed. Always keep in the same, you'll end up... well always being the same. Sometimes that's a good thing, but if you're struggling, it's probably not. You need to break the monotony somehow, so why not change up what's around you?

Even sitting in a completely empty room brings you somewhere mentally. It's adaptation, it's breaking simple cycles, and it's almost like jolting your brain to get out of the rut.

Hope it helps!