Carrots, eggs and coffee beans.
No, we’re not talking about our breakfast menu. We’re talking about environment, and how we respond to it.
Take carrots, eggs and coffee and place each in the same adverse environment of boiling water and you’ll see 3 very different responses.
The carrot goes in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, the environment makes it weak and soft.
The egg went in fragile but that environment caused it to become hardened.
The coffee beans, well they’re unique. They go into the adverse environment but they don’t change, instead they change their environment. They turn that boiling water into fragrant coffee.
That same truth applies to our lives every day.
We are a product of our environment.
Just like sponges we absorb the beliefs, habits, ideas, and patterns around us. I tell my kids all the time: show me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are. Life habits are contagious. Much like the flu. If you want the flu, then hang out with people with the flu. If you don’t want the flu, stay away from people that have the flu. We should apply this standard to every person we’re allowing into our lives.
What does this person have that I want to catch?
Do I want their marriage? Their attitude? Their health and fitness? Their joy, faith or confidence? If you can’t find something in their life that you want to “catch” then they shouldn’t be in your life.
The good news is that you have the #1 BEST environment protection available: YOU. Yep, that’s right. You.
You control your space; your environment. You decide who and what comes in and goes out. You decide how much time and energy you’re going to spend there. You decide to stay there or walk out.
At home you decide whether your environment is going to be one of clutter and anxiety or one of organization and peace.
At work you decide whether you can stay there, be the coffee bean and change the environment around you, or whether you need to do what it takes to get out before you’re a wilted mushy carrot or a hard, tough egg.
In your family you decide whether you’ll allow their lack of support or enthusiasm to affect your HUNGER for your BIG LIFE or whether you’ll push through and show them how it’s done until they “catch” your hunger and jump onboard.
The one constant thing in the environment around you in every aspect of your life is YOU. The environment will likely never be perfect. However it is up to us to…
CHANGE THE ENVIRONMENT.
BIG Life HUNGER Series
The HUNGER Series Posts:
H – Hope
U – Urgency
N – No
G – Grind
E – Environment
R – Relentless
[…] E – Environment […]