I used to think that I could compartmentalize life.
Most people would get my utmost respect and attention except for maybe one or two that I didn’t like.
I would generally love most people, unless they pushed my buttons and then I would withhold love from them.
I would typically invest myself into a job and put 110% effort towards it, except for the ones I didn’t want and then I might half ass my way through it.
I would maintain a certain standard for how I wanted to live, except for some areas.
It was a really bad habit.
I read an article a long time ago (I don’t have the link to it anymore), and it told me that if you accept things that bother you in one area of life, it leaks into other areas of life.
For example, if you have a crooked picture on the wall and it bothers you but you leave it the way it is even though you are bothered by it, your acceptance muscle of things that bother you atrophies.
In other words, when something bothers you in another area of your life, you can easily allow it because you haven’t kept that muscle strong by being consistent with disallowing things that pick at you.
So I applied it to my life.
This one little exercise has now morphed into consistency throughout my whole life, and allowed me to fine tune who I am and who I want to be.
When something isn’t lining up with my values, but I am still doing it, I can feel it deteriorating all areas of my life.
I still try to compartmentalize things without realizing it, but the discord becomes unbearable.
It was a small thing that made a huge difference in my life.
I’ve learned that if you care about it, it needs to be a standard that is upheld everywhere and always.