By Stephanie Lyon, Birch Grove Health Center practice manager
Spruce Up Your Environment with an Integrity Day
Do you have a project around your house that you keep putting off? Do you feel overwhelmed when you see it, sigh to yourself and say, “I’ll get to it tomorrow”? This is the definition of a toleration in your environment. Tolerations are the undone, unfinished, broken, or incomplete things that zap your energy. Even the slightest, seemingly insignificant thing can stay in your unconscious awareness, nagging at you. An example would be that burned out light that requires a special bulb. You notice it now and then, but say, “I’ll find one this weekend.” The weekend comes and you prioritize something else instead. Over time, these tolerations build up and create an underlying stress that causes us to feel anxious, disappointed, and even lose sleep.
For me, it was my paper piles! I’ve overanalyzed my behavior and even felt shame about the unorganized mess I’ve created with paper in my life. Once I had accumulated so much paper in a disorganized mess that when I moved, I simply put it all in 20-gallon tubs. Yes, that was plural—tubs! There were six of them and every time I looked at them, hidden in a closet, I would sigh and say, “tomorrow.”
I was studying coaching and one day this paper mess came up in conversation. I realized that I prioritize people over paper. I will drop many projects to spend time with you! I also felt shame about these paper piles, so I struggled to ask for help. My husband wanted to just throw them all out, but I would panic and feel certain that if he did, we would lose something important. Now, some of you may think I was being irrational—and I was. I was stuck. I had allowed this project to become something deeply emotional.
My coach listened to my agony and asked permission to share an idea, an opportunity for me to get what I wanted, which was to sort and organize my paper while connecting with people. She called this an Integrity Day. The concept is very simple. You organize a virtual (phone or video) group with people who all have projects that will take a few hours to complete.
The schedule for an Integrity Day can look something like this:
- Join Zoom call at 8 a.m. Saturday morning. Have everyone introduce themselves and give a brief description of the project they want to complete.
- Plan a time to start and have everyone use a timer of their own, then, GO! Either turn off your camera and mute the Zoom call or hop off Zoom while you work.
- Work on the project for 50 minutes then check back in with the group for 10 minutes on ZOOM. Each person shares their progress and one word about how they feel.
- The group sets their timers again for another 50 minutes, then, GO!
- Check back in again and continue this until the group is ready to stop.
Once you finish, let yourself feel the freedom as you ZAP those tolerations. This can be for any project, including cleaning your garage or organizing your plastic containers in your kitchen cabinet that always fall out every time you open the cupboard. (You can laugh now if you relate.) I’ve zapped all these things using Integrity Days and I’d love to hear what you create to zap your tolerations. Happy Zapping!
Tip: Walk through your home and choose one project that you have been putting off doing. Think of one or more friends who would like to do an Integrity Day with you and give them a call. Plan a date today and be sure to include a celebration at the end.