This post is 586 words, a 3-mins read.
So like most companies in the year of our Lord 2023, my employer has demanded that all employees be in the office a minimum of 3 days a week. It was not a big deal for me as my group was already coming into the office regularly.
However, something changed as more people are coming back into the office. I am a bit more self-conscious about what I wear on a daily basis. When it was only my team in the building, I wore jeans sometimes khakis, basic polo shirts with vans, or a pair of old loafers that had a chocolate stain on them. Haircuts and shaving my beard were infrequent, to say the least
What I'm trying to say is. I didn't care how I looked.
No one on my team cared. My manager and supervisor were laid back and they also didn't care. So I was relaxed.
But that changed as more people came into the building.
I work for a very traditional corporate-style company. You know your suit-and-tie-pants-must-have-lines-in-em type of company. Although things have loosened up over the years. It's still pretty normal to see most people in a suit.
I quickly became very aware of what I looked like when I got on an elevator vs. what everyone else looked like. I felt a very specific pressure to fit into the mold of what everyone else looked like.
And there was one clothing item that stood out from every single guy that I saw in the office. It was their shoes. Specifically, it was the brand of shoes that everyone seemed to have.
I became mesmerized by these shoes. I had to have them.
So I began shopping when I saw the price of these shoes.
I realized
But even with that realization, I began trying to find ways to justify spending the $200 on the shoes when I had perfectly good shoes already. I would look for deals or sales to justify that I was actually saving money. I would tell myself it's an investment. Every single thing I've ever warned others about saying to themselves whenever they want something they can't afford.
As much as we want to believe we have complete agency over everything we do.
WE DO NOT!
Our environment plays a massive role in how we live our lives.
We are social creatures and seek approval from those around us. Because of this, we will do whatever we deem necessary to be accepted.
This is why when you go to the suburbs everyone drives a massive SUV even though they only have two kids.
It's why there's only one body type for women in Atlanta. I don't even have to say the body type. Every single person reading this just had an image of it in their head.
Our environment influences us massively. This means we have to be careful about the environment we create around us. Not just by the places we live. But also what or who we choose to listen to. It is also what our social media feed is showing us.
The old cliches as much as we may hate them are true:
You are the average of the five closest people to you
You become what you feed on
So ask yourself these questions:
For where I am going, who are the people that are influencing me?
What information am I feeding on regularly? How is that shaping my life?
You might just surprise yourself with the changes you need to make
✌🏾