Hey everyone, welcome back to today's episode. I am going to be talking about environment today. And when I say environment, I'm thinking maybe I should use a different word, more like surroundings. Or something like that, because I don't mean the environment as in, you know, the climate or like the earth or whatever.
I'm talking about your environment more, more specifically your home, and how does the environment that you're living in, that you're operating in, it could also be like your work. and other things like that. But how is your environment impacting you? How are your surroundings impacting you? And is that having an effect on your weight loss?
I was really thinking about this yesterday because I did a bunch of just like, I kind of got into like a bit of a hyper focus of cleaning my house. My husband was gone away for the weekend and he had the dog with him. And it's just a lot easier to do things like that when the dog's not here. She gets really scared of like the vacuum and that type of stuff.
And I just kind of went on a little rampage of cleaning. But I. It just really reinforced to me how much I am so very impacted by my environment, my surroundings and what a, what a difference that makes on how I feel. And I've thought a lot about this lately, the connection there with weight, weight loss and the impact of the environment.
And it's kind of the same, you know, there's a lot of similarities between our weight loss. and food when it comes to managing that as well as our environment and clutter and organization as well as things like our finances. But I want to talk specifically today about our surroundings or clutter or organization or environment.
So The one thing of note is that we really are, as people with ADHD, we're sort of naturally more attuned to our surroundings than maybe a neurotypical person would be. And again, this is, I'm never speaking for everybody. These are just, a lot of these are generalizations, and also my own experience and just what I've heard from other people.
But anyways, this sort of attunement to everything going on around you, it can be really exhausting because if you're like, Attunement or your attention is always shifting and, and, and you're noticing and taking in and being affected by everything around you. It can make it like an additional struggle to focus on one thing or to not sort of receive the impact of what's going on around you or the effect of the things around you.
And you guys have probably noticed this you know, if you're somewhere where you just don't feel. super comfortable or if something is like the lighting affects you or like the colors or the amount of stuff you probably have noticed that before, like how that impacts you. And that's what I'm talking about is, is, is like being attuned to that and how it can actually become somewhat exhausting.
And it can also like really impact your mood. Because I know for myself, like, if there's too much going on around me, if there's too much stuff, if there's too much light, if there's too much brightness, colour, noise, all of those senses getting, like, kind of set off by stuff, it really impacts my mood. I can feel annoyed or frustrated.
And And oftentimes, like, I'll know in retrospect that that's what was driving it, but you might not even realize that that's what's causing you to feel that way. And when you're feeling that way, you're not exactly motivated to, like, make good choices. You're just like, Ugh, I feel this way from, for whatever reason.
And. I don't know, that's not really a driving, you know, motivational way to feel. I did see, I noticed some stuff on, this is called the ADHD Center in the UK, and they were talking about how Environment can't directly, like, cause ADHD, but scientists have highlighted the significant impact of environmental influences on ADHD development and symptoms.
So, there is correlation, not correlation, but like, there is an impact of how your environment You know, affects your symptoms or the way that ADHD is showing up for you. And then when they were talking, they were more talking specifically about children and like how they're, the homes that they're raised in and how that can affect them and how it can make their symptoms worse.
you know more prevalent. But one thing that they were talking about, which I thought was really interesting, is how overly authoritarian parents and overly permissive parenting, both negatively impact ADHD symptom management. And that is so important to find a balance. And I just thought, isn't that interesting how that is so similar to so many other areas of like, we don't do well with Rigid structure or like being told what to do or like, you know, harsh, you know, that, that type of stuff, which would be similar to the overly authoritarian parenting.
And then we also don't do well with like a blank slate, do whatever you want no structure kind of thing, which would be similar to the overly permissive parenting. So, I mean, it just, it really is evident that these things. impact us greatly and trying to find balance between things is so important and really affects us because Well this, this thing continued on to say that a structured environment with predictable routines and schedules can help individuals with ADHD manage their time, tasks, and impulses more effectively.
I mean, that's pretty evident, right? We all know that's true, that when there's predictability and structure in our environment, that can really help us out. So anyhow, I just found that all to be pretty interesting. So, but the other, another thing I, I have been thinking about with You know, clutter, specifically, I guess, in your environment.
I guess more thinking in terms of your home. Is that dealing with that stuff is just one more thing to manage. And one more thing that's sort of taking up your mental energy. And it Like, it helps to perpetuate that sort of feeling of overwhelm, and we already naturally get pretty overwhelmed pretty easily.
So that can lead us down that road of that ADHD paralysis, when then you can't really seem to get anything done because you're in that state of overwhelm, and then you feel stressed out. And then what often happens to us when we're stressed? We look for relief. And oftentimes that's with food. So there really is this connection here about the impact that that has on you.
And even thinking about like when you have a lot going on in your house, and I am saying all that none of this is with judgment, all of this is with personal experience, okay? So like when you have. So much going on in your house, and you're spending all this time trying to find things or like keep it from like overwhelming areas of your house All of that extra time you like you can't find things like say it's the morning you're trying to get ready for work It's already like busy chaotic if you've got kids You're trying to get them out the door and all of this stuff going on and then you like can't find anything because your house Is you've got a lot of stuff Right?
And then do you think that when that happens, you're going to be, you know, making an effort to, you know, I'm going to just cook myself a wholesome breakfast now and I'm going to pack myself a nice lunch. Nope. You, you, you spent all your time trying to find your, like a clean blouse to wear to work, right?
This is all stuff that's happened to me, right? So then you're more naturally going to just grab whatever's easy, like hit up the drive thru on the way to work because you didn't get a chance to eat anything or you just won't eat. You'll just like, Oh, I can just make it through on my coffee. And then we all know where that goes.
Right? So, so it's just this sort of chain reaction, right? And then I did also see a 2012 study that showed that women who live in cluttered homes had elevated levels of cortisol. So they were more stressed out. And this was really interesting to me because the men. We're less affected. I don't know. I don't know why.
I just thought that was really interesting. And another thing that I saw, which also was, this is not ADHD specific, but the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said that people with extremely cluttered homes are 77 percent more likely to be overweight and that tidy homes have been found to be a predictor of physical health.
So yeah, it's just interesting. All of these connections, you know, I think of. times when my kitchen has been really cluttered or if I have too many things. Cause I love like kitchen gadgets. I love, I think it's almost more like the idea of, of me using all of these things and having all these pretty, that's like my, my, I mean books too, but like.
I love like, you know crockpots and like kitchen gadgets and all that kind of stuff. But then I would end up with so much stuff. And when it's so, there's too many things and it's not organized and then it gets messy really easily. Then I know from my own experience that I am far less likely to make good food choices or be able to like successfully cook stuff.
Even though I like to cook, I almost get like resentful and I don't even want to be in the kitchen. When it's like that, so. That can really affect meeting your goals. Yeah, and so, another thing that I saw, which was really kind of a cool way to approach this. So, there was this woman, her name was Cheryl Sussman, and she's an ADHD coach and an educational therapist.
And she calls it clutter consciousness. So she was saying that when we have ADHD, we are often blind to how clutter gets started, which I, when, when I read that, I was like, that is so true. So things like, you know, impulse buying or, you know, you go to Costco and it's like, Oh, look at all this, like these, these cool new things or this.
Even things like organization like storage bins and stuff like that, I totally buy all those things but not just that like other things, you kind of impulse buy things, and then you don't realize you don't have space for it so you bring it home, and then you're like I don't have anywhere to put this I'm just gonna like put it on this spot in the counter and then all of a sudden that Spot on the counter becomes a new place to, like, put stuff.
And then when that's filled up, then you choose, like, the table. The dining room table turns into your, like, stuff, like your space for stuff, right? And paperwork, that's another one that gets like that. But anyways, back to Cheryl Sussman. She, this was her quote, she said, Negative thinking and self judgment can contribute to putting off decision making and establishing constructive habits.
you may have about your organizing habits, you have two first become aware of them. Right? Isn't that what she talked about, how you can't change things if you aren't first aware of them. And that's exactly what I say. Right? Like, we can't change our habits if we're not aware of them. So noticing, being curious, being creative.
It's trying to understand, you know, the chain reaction of how things go. She was saying it's the exact same thing with clutter. And a lot of it is because we don't have this clutter consciousness. So it's something we have to work to develop. Again, it's just another example of something that we just, we might operate differently.
We might get to the end goal a little differently than somebody who perhaps is neurotypical, It doesn't mean we can't do these things, it's just that we kind of go about it differently. So I don't know. Keep that in your mind. Clutter consciousness. I thought it was really interesting. Another thing is that we have to realize that clutter can, and your environment can impact your ability to sleep well.
It can, if you're somebody who tries to, who wants to exercise or do your movement at home, that can impact whether you're actually going to do it because maybe there's no space or maybe you want to use your. You know, and if you just generally don't feel good in the environment, in the environment, and you, you often don't want to be there, or you feel this kind of low grade, like stress from it all the time, you never really feel rested, right?
And we already are kind of in that state a lot of the time with our minds. So it's just another contributing factor that is really. Can be looked at as an opportunity to create calm for ourselves. And sometimes I think too, like I wonder, I, I mean I've, I've been in therapy off and on for a long, long time, and I've struggled with my weight for a long, long time.
And I know for many of us, you know, the weight can be almost like a fort. For something, I still don't really know what, but almost like a protective layer. And I wonder sometimes if clutter is the same thing. So maybe that's why that's, there's that correlation. But anyways, I am not a psychologist , so I don't wanna try to like establish that.
I don't know if it has any meaning or connection or anything, but I do, I do wonder about it often. Anyways, that's just something that, that I've been thinking about. So those are all the ways that, like, it can affect us and how, why it matters, your surroundings, your environment, your home, all of that type of stuff.
So what do we do about it? Because I think we've already kind of seen how this can affect us in our, in our, in our life. our goal of weight loss, our goal of feeling good, our goal of not feeling stressed and overwhelmed all the time. So I, I mean, I'm going to have some kind of an organizing expert on the show at some point.
That is my goal because I am not an expert in this field, but I do have a lot of personal experience with this. And my number one thing that I can say is to start small. So like you pick one spot and you give yourself, you know, 10 minutes. And you can do things like remove garbage, identify things that you don't need, or just move things into their rightful spot.
If you have things like this, especially with kids, this happens all the time. There's like random things in random spots and things don't have a spot. But if you can just like move things to where they should be, that can be really helpful. Although, like, one thing I will say is when you do this, it's really easy to end up getting into a little hyper focus mode and your ten minutes turns into three hours.
And then all of a sudden, you hit a wall and you're like, I don't want to do this anymore. But your stuff is everywhere. This happened to me with my, my, I cleaned, like, totally, like, decluttered and cleaned my my Bathroom, like the primary bathroom for our bedroom and I hit a wall and there was stuff everywhere.
But I was like, I don't really have a choice, I can't stop now. And I just happened to have the time to do it, right? Because that, obviously you, you only want to do this when you have time to do it. But even if you do, going back to what I originally said, 10 minutes, if you give yourself 10 minutes, like it, you can get a lot done in 10 minutes.
I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but if you've ever like thought about things that you dread doing and you don't want to do them and then you set a timer and you realize how little time they take you, like for me, I hate unloading the dishwasher. I don't know why. I remember timing myself one time and I was like, Oh, that only took me like, like four minutes.
So, so really 10 minutes can go by fast, but you can get so much done. So anyways, that's my tip. Start, start 10 minutes somewhere. But also like, I mean, being organized. It's not a strength, but it does give us a greater chance of being able to like set ourselves up for success. And I just want you to keep in mind that like with every, like as the same with everything else, perfection is never the goal with this.
So to me, when I think about my home, and this has changed a lot as I've gotten older, I think before I was so much more influenced by, without even really realizing it, influenced by like what you think your home is supposed to look like. Right? Like these, you know, for a while it was like these pristine white kitchens and, and like remember the gray floors, like the gray flooring was a big, big thing for a while and all this.
And you just think, you almost don't even realize that like maybe you actually don't like that. You just think that's, that's what's good and that's what you're supposed to go after. And now I'm like, no, you know what? I love a livable home where I feel cozy and safe and warm and comforted. Our house that we live in right now, it was so funny, like, when we first walked into this house, I was like, okay, I want to live here.
And it, I think what it reminded me of, because it's built in the 80s, and it hasn't really been renovated very much. We did some renovations last summer, but It just felt like the homes from when I was a kid, like, you know, when you would go to somebody's house and you just loved being there, like you felt like so warm and cozy.
And like their house just seemed really nice. Like our house is very like you know, like brick walls and wood and there's the fireplace and that kind of stuff. Anyways, that to me, I'm like, this is what I like. This is where I want to be. This is the environment that feels good to me. And it's not.
You know, magazine worthy, right? But like that, that to me is like getting rid of all that almost like mental clutter or like environmental clutter in the sense of like thinking that. You're supposed to look a certain way and be a certain way in where you live, getting rid of that can be a really good way to recognize like how you want to live.
And so in terms of like your organization and decluttering and all of that type of stuff, livability is so amazing and so much better than trying to have it look a certain way that you might deem as perfect. You know, it's just like they said in that other thing I was talking about earlier about like finding the balance between like the parenting, the two different parenting styles.
Like it's the same with your home, right? It just needs, you need to find that balance that feels right for you. So another tip that I have with this is just picturing your future self. I know I talk about this all the time, but it's just been like such a great exercise for me that has really changed my outlook on a lot of things.
Picturing your future self. Living the way that you would love to live, and don't feel, like, restricted in what you think about this, like, don't feel limited to, like, your current life circumstance, but just if you were picturing your future self living, like, the ideal life for you, what does that look like in terms of your environment?
Like, what does your home feel like? And maybe I mean, I'm not the kind of person that dreams like this because it just doesn't matter to me, but, like, I've never pictured myself in, like, some big mansion because that doesn't feel like that warmth, safe, cozy, comforting environment that I want. That's what really matters to me.
But maybe for you it is, like, like, you picture the spaciousness or something. I don't know. But what I'm saying is, When you picture your future self, what does it feel like in your home? And then, I mean, it's the same as when you want to lose weight. Like if you picture your future self and how are you living and what are you doing on a day to day basis?
And then you kind of work backwards into these small, small, small increments of what are some little steps I can do today that are like, And you can see that it says, You know, a penny in the bank of future you. So it's the same with your home. Just picture your future you, and what do you really want?
Because sometimes it's hard for us to know what we actually want. Like, especially if we're living in an environment that we know is not what we want, it sometimes can be hard to identify what we do want. So I think that can be a really great thing, is just to picture it. Because that can help you to start to slowly develop an idea of what it is that you think is really going to bring you that sense of peace.
So yeah, so What, and not only that, but like another thing to consider is functionality. Like with you and your life right now and thinking of the goals that you have, you know, as it relates to weight loss or any of those things, what does functionality look like for you in your environment? Because you need to have the, the, I don't know, things in place that are going to enable you to, to do those kinds of things, right?
So whether that means taking things out of your home or, you know, organizing them differently to set yourself up for success. And like, if you can create a more of a sense of ease in your home, this is going to help you to be more clear minded, it's going to help you to be more focused and especially going to help you.
And I think it's important to be able to do you know, be more focused on the things that actually matter to you, especially if you don't have to deal with as much clutter because that can be so time consuming. Yeah, so, so just what is functional and what do you want? And another thing that can be helpful is just asking yourself, like, why do you think you might have so many of these things?
Because sometimes it's just that we think we might eventually need it. That was a big one for me. I'd always think like, eventually I'm going to need this. Especially with clothes, right? If you're somebody like me and your weight has gone up, down, up, down, up, down, it's really easy to have a lot of clothes, especially if you work in like a corporate environment and you have to have like work clothes, I've had like pregnancy clothes, like all of this stuff, like so much clothes.
And so, but you really think like, Oh, I might need this one day. You know, maybe, maybe when you would fit into those clothes again, you wouldn't want them anymore. I don't know, but it's just a matter of, like, asking why you are hanging on to some of these things. And not in a negative way, not in like a judging yourself way or that it's bad, because you're probably just looking out for yourself, right?
But just asking yourself why you have these things, if you really will eventually need it. And sometimes it's just not even, we don't even realize that we've built up so much stuff. And that's okay. But that, that's where that curiosity and awareness and observing what's going on around you helps. Because, you know, just developing that awareness, get curious about it, and then that you can start to think about what you might want to do differently, and that can really help in that situation.
Because lastly, I just want to say it can be a really cyclical thing, right? Because decluttering and can, that can help you. With your weight loss goals, but losing weight can also help you the other way around, like working on the clutter. Because you start to develop this awareness, you start to to recognize what makes you feel good, and you might become more aware of what's going on around you and how it's impacting you.
And then you might be able to make little changes here and there to help you down the path to that. Anyhow, that's all I have for today. I hope this has all made sense to you and you see the connection here and the impact. That, that your environment might be having on you in terms of reaching your weight loss goals.
And as always if you have comments, if you have questions, if you have just tell me your stories. I love hearing from you guys and like if, if things resonate with you for real. This like means so much to me when I get messages from you that, that something you're like, Oh, I didn't think anybody else thought this way.
I probably have, and there's probably a lot of you out there who have as well. So you, please always feel free to reach out to me and I hope you guys have a great week.
