Your Surroundings: For Better or Worse

“We’re you here earlier? said the Chik-fil-A clerk. The truth was that I, in fact, was there earlier today. I didn’t think it was really her business to bring it up, but there I was being called out for stopping in to the local fast food chain for the second time that day. You see, it was Spring Training 2009 and our complex was right next to a Chik-fil-A.

We know that we are, to some degree, affected by our surroundings. Regardless of our intentions (to become as athletically polished as possible) and our knowledge (the basic understanding that Chik-fil-A isn’t a champion’s resource), we tend to exist based on what’s around us. Sometimes that means enjoying more Chik-fil-A than if you had to drive 20 minutes to find it, sometimes it means joining a gang when you live on a hot block, and it sometimes even means dreaming of playing high school football when your town’s brightest lights are the one’s at the field on Friday night.

Trust me, however, that I’m not deterministic in nature, but I do know that a young athlete short on time and money might end up in Chik-fil-A more often when it’s the only establishment on the block. I’m the same way now. I grocery shop at Whole Food and drink coffee at Groundwork, in part, because they are the first best choices.

Think back to a time when you lived in a different place. What were your routines? What did you eat? What did you do for fun?

Surely, you are a slightly different person now than you were then, but is that it? Or, were you somewhat affected by what was happening around you?

Take my beating of this dead horse for the obvious moral. You surrounding can significantly impact every detail of your life. Are you helping yourself out by hanging out with who you hang out with? Are there other restaurant routines you can create in your area or are you deferring to what’s potentially problematic to achieving your health goals?

Check out your surroundings. You’re turning into them.

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach