Upgrade Your Lifestyle: How to Upgrade Your Environment

In my post about how to upgrade your life, I talked about the importance of upgrading your environment. Today I’ll talk about exactly how to upgrade your environment.

Your environment plays a big role in the quality of your life. So, if you truly wish to improve the quality of your life, you must also change your environment.

Your environment is pretty much everywhere you interact with regularly. That means your neighborhood or community, where you go shopping, your school or job, the restaurants you eat at, where you go to hang out and have fun, etc. It’s all the people and places you interact with regularly.

Now, not all the steps are needed by everyone, so if your environment is already a good one, go read the article to see what other areas you could work on. With that said, let’s get into ways you can change your environment.

Reflect on the environments you are currently in

Let’s start with this one because I believe that genuine change doesn’t happen without honest reflection. If you are trying to upgrade your life and elevate yourself, you must reflect on how your environment adds to or hinders that process.

Is your environment one that fosters growth? Is your environment one that fosters narcissism? Is your environment one that fosters intentional living? Is your environment one that fosters negativity?

You must also ask yourself what your goal is. What exactly do you hope to achieve? Do you want to thrive, or merely to survive? How does your environment affect that desire?

It is absolutely important for you to know the answers to these questions because you might need to move out of the place where you live in order to find a better environment. This was true for me.

I am from a very quiet community, but there were no opportunities for growth and personal development. I wanted more out of life. I wanted a better life. I didn’t want to just get by. I wanted financial security, financial freedom. In order for me to get that, I needed to interact with places that offered opportunities for financial growth.

Is your environment serving you? Or is it hurting you?

Reflect on the kind of environment you would like to be in

I don’t believe in one sided reflection so now that you’ve identified that your environment actually hurts you, it’s time to reflect on the kinds of environment you’d like to be in. You need to know where you want to go. Even if you don’t know how you’ll get there, you still have to know where “there” is.

What kinds of places do you want to shop? What kinds of communities do you want to live in? What kinds of places do you want to eat at? What kinds of places do you want to frequent? What kinds of places do you want to hang out at?

It doesn’t matter how unreachable these goals may seem now. They are only so now because you haven’t figured out how to get there yet. And that’s fine. This exercise isn’t to figure out the how, it’s to identify where you wanna go. Where do you see yourself?

Many people desire to be in middle class environments because that’s an elevation from where they are currently at. That’s fine. It’s a start. Many people, once they’ve reached the middle class, desire to move up further to be in the upper class. But it’s a process.

In order to begin your journey to where you want to be, you must first identify where that is. Only then will you put the steps in place and begin to make strides towards that desire.

Change slowly if necessary

For some people, a sudden, drastic change is possible. For others, the change needs to be slow and steady. At least at first. However the change happens, make sure it happens. Otherwise, you will always be in the same environments.

If you’ve read my post about how to build up your sense of self worth, you would have seen where I mentioned that part of the reason you don’t feel accomplished is that you aren’t proving yourself enough. This is also a part of that process. How can you have a heightened sense of self worth if you don’t prove to yourself that you can and will remove yourself from environments that hold you back?

I know what you’re thinking: Lis that’s a lot easier said than done. And you may be right, so naturally, I will share a few ways you can change your environment. Or at least begin the process.

How to upgrade your environment gradually

Develop new hobbies

Oh my gosh! What is it with this chick and new hobbies? Yes I know you’ve heard me say it before: new hobbies, new hobbies, new hobbies! We’re talking about change here. We’re talking about sustainable change. If you want change, you have to do new things. If you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’re gonna keep getting the same results you’ve been getting.

So develop new, positive hobbies. Hobbies that push you forward. Hobbies that make you interesting as a person. Hobbies that give you a sense of fulfillment. Hobbies that get you into new environments.

Join a book club. Do yoga. Join a martial arts gym. Learn archery. Whatever floats your boat.

Visit new places

Yes. I know. Traveling the world is expensive. Not everyone can afford that. But while I absolutely believe everyone should travel to another country at least once in their life, what about those who never get the opportunity? What about those who just can’t?

The answer is simple: visit new places in your home country. Do you have any idea how many people I know who have never been to a different city/town/state from the one they grew up in? Never been to a hotel, never been to a 5 star restaurant, never been horseback riding, never been hiking. Not to say that these are the only options. These are just a few examples. Feel free to add more to the list in the comments below.

The point I’m making is, I know a lot of people pass by different venues, and they are curious to know what the inside is like, but they have never allowed themselves to set foot in there.

Don’t do that to yourself. Explore. You’ll be surprised just how much the world opens up to you. Just be smart about the places you visit and remember to always look out for your personal safety.

Change where you shop

Another great way to change your environment is to change where you shop. Changing where you shop might expose you to new experiences, wider variety and even better customer service.

This doesn’t mean you have to stop shopping at your favorite supermarket or your favorite clothes store. But we are talking about changing your environment here and how you can accomplish that.

Don’t refuse to go into a store, shopping mall, or whatever it may be, because it’s “too expensive”. Go into the store. Even if you buy nothing. Walk in there like you will. Like you belong. Remember, you are trying to create new experiences to broaden your horizon.

Oh, and while we are on the topic, don’t say “it’s too expensive for me”. It is not. Saying that communicates to your mind that you think you deserve less. It’s not too expensive. You’re just not making enough money to afford it yet.

Notice the difference in mindset? One rights it off as something you’ll never get and the other creates room to solve the problem of how you’ll get it.

Change your beauty salon

Moving on. Another way to change your environment is to change your beauty salon. Now I know we are all quite loyal to our stylists. Especially black women. Once we find a hairdresser and she handles our hair well, we are loyal for life!

However, even if you don’t want to change your hairstylist, try out different salons. Get a simple shampoo done at one of those fancy upscale salons. Get your nails done at a new salon. The overall quality of your experience matters. The connections you’ll make in these new environments might be worth it. There are new opportunities to find that might just be worth it.

Spend less time with negative people

Oh my God. I can’t talk about this one enough. This probably should have been the first tips for how to change your environment because, sis, I kid you not. The people you spend your time with affects your mental energy in such a profound way it’s quite scary to think about.

You may think they don’t because you are so unbothered, but change the people you spend time with and just watch how much your energy changes. Humans are social creatures, so we eventually adapt to our environment. We eventually adopt some of the behaviours of the people around us.

We have conversations and share our thoughts with the people around us, which means they do the same. Their way of thinking affects ours with time too. Not that you have no will of your own and that you can’t tune out your environment. That’s just extra brain power that you could have been using to plan your next moves in life.

And let’s be honest here. Let’s assume you wanna start a business. Who is more likely to inspire you and match your energy?

1. People who have either started a successful business or are focused on building one. Or
2. people who have never started a business and/or complain about how much the system is against them and “their people”?

Network

Piggybacking off the previous point, you need to build your network. You need to build a network of like-minded individuals who are also committed to growth and personal development. Don’t be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone and meet new people.

Attend different networking events if possible and where it’s not, leverage your new environments to find connections. They say it’s not who you know, it’s who knows you. If that’s true, become known. Making connections with the right people can make your journey so much easier. Having the right connections can open doors and create opportunities for you.

These are only a few tips on how you can change your environment and upgrade your life. If you search Google, you will find many more tips on how to do that. Here are a few great reads on how to upgrade your environments that I hope you’ll find helpful.

If You Want to Change Your Circumstances, Upgrade Your Environment

If You Want To Change Your Life, Change Your Environment

I’d love to hear from you in the comments section. What tips do you have to share? Remember you can connect with me on Instagram and you can join my Facebook community. I look forward to meeting you.

‘Till next time Queen…

-Cheers! ✌🏼