How I Set Myself Up for Success: Light & Plants
Seeing Like Knausgård
One of my favorite authors is Karl Ove Knausgård who wrote My Struggle. I was just explaining his work to a friend the other day—the mundaneness, the uneventfulness, the beauty of the simplicity of each unassuming moment in a person’s life. He writes his own story, his struggle as a boy growing up in Norway and later a husband and a father moving around the world, which strangely mirrors the emotional reality of so many who grew up in a different body with a different outlook in different circumstances.
The power of his writing is in articulating the most fundamental fact that life is a struggle for all of us, and the struggle happens on the daily and on the reg. Reading his words provokes us to ask ourselves: What is my struggle? What are the quotidian challenges I face? And the flipside of this: What is there about my environment and my moment that I can do something about? What can I change?
My Environment
I posted a video to TikTok this week about the power of our environments to condition our ability to think clearly. For some time, I’ve been talking about the broader social environment and how it conditions our personal chances to live out our potential—things like classism, racism, and sexism bear down on us as we move through our day and, whether we are the ones it is aimed at or we are getting it second hand, it hampers our ability to thrive. But I occasionally post about the literal spatial environment that we exist in, which is also important. And sure enough, my first question came from a viewer wondering what could be done in their immediate space.
To this, I answer: Start small. Begin with the little bit of environment you have control over. If it’s the room you sleep in, start there. If it’s part of your home where you work and connect, do that up. If you have control over your workplace too, even better. Maximizing good light (or if you’re starting with your bedroom, good darkness) will ensure you feel most energized when you need to. We are going into the winter soon and many people will feel S.A.D. (a.k.a. Seasonal Affective Disorder). Artificial light therapy is one strategy that works for many people around the world.
Surrounding yourself with life in the form of plants is another helpful tactic. Since the pandemic started, I have had to work from home almost exclusively. I find that there is no better place for me to work inside my house than at the dining table facing out to the backyard. When I look up from my computer screen, I catch glimpses of the tree leaves rustling or the sunlight glimmering on the pebbled ground. It gives me an instant calming effect, and I don’t even have to focus my eyes on anything in particular. With small children, I still can’t manage indoor plants (the tubs of dirt and branches would be too appealing to little fingers). But I can set myself up so that I am faced with the green outdoors.
Want some more info? Here’s a great article in The Washington Post about the mood-boosting effects of plants.
➡️ Want to see more Setups for Success (SUPs)? Head over to TikTok!