I once saw a picture of a Lamborghini in a large, dusty garage. The car hadn’t been driven for years. Dust caked on the hood, one flat tire, wedged between cardboard boxes and a busted treadmill.

It just sat, silently wasting its potential.

Not because it wasn’t working. But because no one gave it the space to move.

That photo lingered in my mind, I think, because it reminded me of something I didn’t want to accept: the environment around you can influence you a lot, without your ever knowing it.

When you start doubting yourself

There was a time in my life when I was completely stuck. Not in some big, life-is-falling-apart way—just numb. I had ideas that I didn’t even bother to mention. Skills that I didn’t use. Conversations that went nowhere. It felt like I was slowly stopping being me.

Of course, I had to be thinking that I was the problem.

Maybe I wasn’t trying hard enough.

Maybe I didn’t have something of value to offer. Maybe I was just tired.

So I started fitting in with the crowd. Thinned down so much that I could blend, not sparkle. And still, nothing changed.

How the people and environment around you influence your self-confidence

The more I twisted to fit the room, the more I felt invisible. It’s funny how quickly the world around you convinces you to shrink. If you’re spending time with those who don’t listen, who don’t pay attention, who don’t much care, you start to think that what you have to offer isn’t valuable

But then I saw a quote (and I like motivational quotes)

“When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.”

It wasn’t me.
It was the room.

Changing the environment around you is not selfish

I also thought that day about that tired Lamborghini in the picture.

Still strong.

Still beautiful.

Still built to move.

But completely wasted in the wrong environment.

I didn’t make a dramatic exit. I simply left

I found better talk. Different environment. Places where I didn’t have to explain myself or censor who I was being.

What do you do when you find the right space

And slowly, but surely, I came back.

The spark. The humor.

I wasn’t broken, it turns out—I simply needed to change the environment around me.

So if you’re off, depleted, stuck—it’s not necessarily a sign that you need to be more disciplined, or more positive, or drink another spinach shake. Sometimes you just need to leave the bad place.

Even if you’re dusty. Even if it takes a while to get going again.

Because the moment the space around you changes, everything else does.