There's probably nothing worse than working in a toxic environment; it's astounding

we will do whatever it takes to get through the day, then do it again the next.

 

When you become chronically stressed, your brain lacks coherence; it doesn't function as a whole.

The prefrontal cortex is "shut off"; activity in the lower parts of your brain takes precedence.

 

When your brain lacks coherence, you lack coherence, your body, your whole system.

 

You don't need to make complex decisions or think critically when you're in a war zone.

To use an older expression, when a large animal is waiting to eat you.

 

This is biology, not simply thinking, your ANS (Autonomic (Automatic) Nervous System) takes over

Fight/Flight/Freeze/Fawn, what many high achievers don't understand, you're likely living in

functional freeze, where you can perform to a high level, not at your best, while feeling

disconnected, hypervigilant, burnt-out, and exhausted.

 

How you think is how you feel, how you feel is how you think, this is the cycle, it's also

what most NLP practitioners, cognitive, purely MINDSET coaches and therapists discuss,

which, to my mind, and speaking from experience, is outdated.

 

Your body is precognitive; when it doesn't get its expected fix, it'll start driving your thoughts.

 

You weren't designed to live with the neurochemicals, transmitters, and hormones of stress flooding

your system almost constantly, and you don't have to continue living this way.

 

Stress is a killer - epigenetics tells us - it is our perception of the environment that sends a signal

to the cell membrane, which then upregulates or downregulates the expression of your genes.

 

This is where we do use coping mechanisms, alcohol, exercise (gym), shopping,

sex, social media, you can fill in the blank, we all do it, or have done it.

 

It might be that you have a business, where you have partners, shareholders to deal with, or

that you have a great career, with the prospects you always wanted.

 

The question is, do they and the environment "encourage", excite you about your day ahead

give you energy, or drain you of it, does the environment push your emotional buttons

before you've entered the car park?

 

I understood what I'd be facing daily, was it coincidental that although I was chronically stressed

anxious and insecure about losing my business, always alert, burning out, then depressed, that I

didn't feel enraged when I was going directly to a client's site...

 

My first coach/teacher suggested I'd be capable of returning to our office environment, which had

ironically become more toxic, suddenly, others could see my perspective on what had been happening

in it for over twenty years, at this point, I'd already made critical decisions about the business.

 

Based firmly on a place of regulation (nervous system), conscious choices

(prefrontal cortex/neo cortex/human brain), I'd gone through the scenarios

outside influences beyond my control, the fact that the people in the environment

had proven they had no intention of changing anything, I'd be fighting them for control

because I didn't own the crucial 1% that would be required... most importantly

 

I'd had enough of fighting, I'd been doing it all my life...

 

Everything starts with you, and you cannot force anyone else to change; this means the only

person you have the power to change is YOURSELF.

The simplest answer is to move environments, away from toxic partners/colleagues, what happens

when you move, and the patterns follow, the same people with different faces?