The Power of Environment
Oh, to be a working adult… from home. Recently, I’ve struggled to maintain healthy boundaries between my work and personal life. Busy season has been in full effect. I’ve been working from my bedroom in a small New York apartment since March. My passion toward my work has been at an all time low. Stress about my future and career hops into my mind daily. All of these factors, and many more, have been bottled up and contained in my apartment, a space that had once been “safe.” I don’t even have a commute to work anymore, it’s all here. Once the usual workday ends, I’m already home, and the productive habits I once thoroughly enjoyed now felt like an extension of my workday… such as reading a book and writing for the blog you’re looking at right now.
I would get frustrated. Everything began to feel the same. Covid doesn’t allow for much variety in our days, especially in the epicenter. Work from home does not work for me. I would feel so dispassionate after closing my work laptop that doing anything else that remotely felt like work, even if it was something I wanted and liked to do, felt unattractive. I love to read, but my mind didn’t feel like sitting in my apartment just to do that, like I had been doing all day anyway. I had to figure out a way to separate the different things I do each day, to somehow maintain their uniqueness in my days and appreciate them. I considered the different habits I try to maintain, and how I could possibly place those in environments that would refresh my experience of them. What factors did I have control over that could accomplish this?
I began to look outward for my reading time. Before covid I had fallen in love with this small coffee shop called Book Club a few blocks from me. A coffee shop that looks more like a library, with mahogany bookshelves in place of walls that provide a profoundly comforting atmosphere to read under a safe, warm light. I decided to begin reading there each Monday, and any other day that I desperately needed to step away from it all. When I would read at home, I noticed my eyes drooping as my exhaustion from work persisted in this environment. I would count the pages I read until I felt satisfied enough to close it and not do anything anymore. In the shop, I took my seat with a cappuccino and opened my book. 2 hours, and one more espresso, disappeared and I was still happily reading. I felt the same way I did the day I fell in love with reading two summers ago. I was smiling. I left the shop with 200 pages down, a new book in my bag, and I felt amazing. I found the peace I was craving in my book hobby. It was a considerable difference from the days before. What happened?
This got me thinking about the power of environment. Looking back, I always enjoyed books much more when I read them outside in a park, on my fire escape, or in a shop. The tune and tempo of my reading became so natural when my mind, book, and eyes were placed elsewhere. That difference of environment enhanced my enjoyment of the activity considerably. For reading, it wasn’t what book I was reading that changed things, it was where I was reading it. I felt inspired to look for this same idea in my own life. I wanted to see what else I could make a change to in these monotonous times.
Each week I write down 1 person in my life I’d like to call to and have an extended catch up conversation with. Instead of staying in my room to chat, I go outside and allow my legs to go on their own journey as I catch up with the person on the other end of the line. These phone calls have become a highlight of my week. I even feel inclined to have multiple calls each week, for a good walk and an even better conversation. At the beginning of covid, there were days I’d set up my workstation in bed. I soon told myself that would no longer be the case. The place I rest my head each night in safety and security should not be the same place I confront the stresses of each workday. I contain my work to my desk. I even have a designated work candle that remains lit, and once blown out, signifies the official end to my workday. When I eat dinner, I take a seat at my kitchen table and enjoy it from there. I give myself a designated area meant for the peace of a meal after a long day. I focus on the food in front of me, and have found a much deeper enjoyment in my nightly meal.
My most difficult challenge has been consistent fitness. Home workouts were only engaging for so long, and I quickly lost the motivation to do them each day. It wasn’t until last week that I noticed a difference. A good friend of mine brought up an accountability system. I voiced my difficulties with her and we decided to try out a weekly commitment to workout together at the track by the East River. Last week, we met up for our first session. I am still sore from the workout, but felt an unbelievable sense of motivation and satisfaction from it. Having a workout buddy changed the context of everything. It taught me that even adding a new person to an activity completely changes the environment, and in turn, the experience.
Now, my question for you. Can you think of any aspects of your life that a change in environment could be exactly what you need? Look at the things you enjoy doing, and give them an environment of their own. Watch as a different environment becomes the foundation upon which these experiences build into something truly unique to you. Let me know what comes to mind! I hope that you find that same moment of peace in something you love, just like a safe place to read.
Optimistically,
Jon
