The effects of bad associations and environment are evident and the cause of lots of changes that occur within our minds which are replicated outwardly by us in our actions.
Our thinking and reasoning can be affected by the environment where we find ourselves, and even more by the people living in it whom we associate with on a daily basis.
The environment, if negative, can impact our mindset in such a way that it tends to redirect our manner of reasoning, and perspective of viewing life.
The environment and the people in it can directly or indirectly affect our decisions, our mode of thinking, feelings, and emotions, most especially our core values and beliefs in one way or the other.
This is why we need to be cautious about who we decide to associate ourselves with and the kind of environment we should live in.
Sometimes, inherited identity, work, school, and family relocations, can bring us face-to-face with an environment and people we never asked or wished for.
The following are the negative effects of bad associations and environment:
- They can lock up and limit the Mindset to just a few positive ideas
Our minds can be set or configured to allow for the random inflow of dynamic ideas as the mind is put into its thinking mood. This condition can be limited if such a mind is allowed to dwell in a bad environment or with people with negative minds for too long.
Staying around negative minds tends to close up or lock up the mind, thereby shielding it from accessing unlimited positive ideas that can flow in at any time. There is an effect on the mind for every negative thing it sees or hears.
If not dealt with at an early stage, it can come back to affect its future decisions as it can be corrupted to think less of innovative ideas. Ideas like this most times can only be unlocked by moving to a like-minded environment with similar kind of reasoning that would pave ways for the inflow of new ideas.
When looking for the negative effects of bad associations and environment, the easiest place to look is in the mind.
In this case, when you think, you will find that sometimes your thoughts will begin to drift from more positive ideas towards negative ideas contrary to before.
In other cases, when you think you will be unable to reach a certain frequency of thought any more as you used to. At this point, you might want to examine the friends you keep and the environment you find yourself in.
They are both important when evaluating the status of our mindsets in anything we do because they are the closest and fastest factors that can affect our thoughts, actions, and reactions toward life events.
- They can kill dreams
Dreams, visions, and goals are a very critical part of human nature that creates a drive that surges man to greatness.
Most times, we develop our dreams right from childhood and sometimes at a certain stage of life, and we tend to run with them, holding onto them like a hinge that carries us.
A bad environment in most cases can cause our dreams to die off, as constant negativity coming from negative people can destroy the mindset.
It can bring down our dreams from a hundred to a zero. That is a kill to our imaginative mind and also our imaginative future.
The effects of bad associations and environment can make one to become a lazy thinker. Henry Ford says, “thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.”
When bad associations and environment catch up with a person with a big dream, there is a high possibility that if that person continues to dwell in such an environment and with such associations, he or she might end up giving up on that dream.
This simply means that bad associations and environment brings along with them a negative effect that everyone who wishes to go far in life must try their best to avoid.
- They can reduce the size of dreams and visions
Another clear instance where the negative effects of bad associations and environment are evident is in the fact that it has the power to reduce or cut down the size of one’s dream.
In this case, instead of the environment or people within it killing off our dreams, they help to reduce its size from ‘Big’ to ‘Medium’, from ‘Medium’ to ‘Small’, and from ‘Small’ to ‘Anyhow life turns out’.
This process often happens without our conscious permission, we only come to light with it when we suddenly realize the transition has already taken place.
At this point, our big-picture visions tend to be reduced in size from one size to the other leaving us to run for a cut-down-to-sized dream picture which we may now refer to as our big picture. We call it our big picture, but in its true nature, it has become little.
This can be different when it is in a different environment where we are surrounded by positive minds or an environment where everything your eye behold is big and your emotions are trying its best to think of ways it can reach a highlight.
The negative effects of bad associations and environment can be damaging to a person’s dream because it will cause the person to try to fit into what their eyes can see, thereby forcing the mindset to shrink its thoughts, in order to fit into the existing environment.
- They can cause us to abandon a plan
The negative effects of bad associations and environment can also be evident in a plan already in motion.
It can cause us to abandon our motion plans. Often we could have plans already in motion stopped as a result of influence from a negative environment and people.
At such point, these negative factors of people and environment become obstacles to our big goals. But because we are putting in time settling in with the new style of life, we tend to neglect or postpone our plans.
In cases where the person working on the plan isn’t strong enough to stay on the plan, the person might begin to find out that time has been cut off from the project plan.
The effects of bad associations and environment can cause the person to have the feeling that their plan wouldn’t lead to anything reasonable in life.
When we keep bad associations, it becomes unlikely that they will ever encourage us to pursue what we have passion for in our hearts. It also becomes more likely that we might abandon our plan along the road.
This is the reason why being aware of the kind of associations we indulge in is very important especially when we have something working for us.
- It can initiate self-doubts and fear in the mind.
An unfavorable environment can cause a mind full of hope and faith to develop or initiate fear and doubt within. The effects of bad associations and environment can clearly turn a person full of hopes, faith, and life to become doubtful of their dreams, plans, and work.
Negative words can discourage a strong mind. It introduces leaks, which can come in the form of self-doubt, fear, and lack of faith which dreams require in order to strive and survive.
And if that person isn’t strong enough to withstand the heat, then the strong hope and faith which has been in the heart keeping up the flame and fire burning will die off.
They can cause one to begin to have doubts about the possibility of their dreams. That instance where one wants to see the tail from the head before even starting.
The fear of failing, and of not succeeding can begin to take over because the encouragement and spirit of the person are being clouded by negative people and environment causing them to keep going down in spirit until the person probably reaches a breaking point.
- They can increase self disbelieve
Every being at one point or another can develop a little feeling of self-disbelief which can sprout out anytime.
Being close to negative people can exponentially increase the little self-disbelief already in existence which one might be working so hard to reduce to the barest minimum.
When a person begins to question themselves, and begin to ask the “who am I and what am I doing’ questions, then it can mean that either the person isn’t moving ahead or that the person isn’t where he or she had planned to be at that point in time.
The negative effects of bad associations and environment can become a limiting factor to someone which can cause one to question their self beliefs about everything in their lives.
A belief that says that you are incapable of pulling the string. A belief where your ability, and capability are put to questioning.
This is because the negative effects of bad associations and environment can cause someone to perform below their capacity, capability, and below their expectation.
- They can eat up one‘s precious thinking time
Thinking is an important part of who we are, we tend to think at one point when we are in search of inspiration and ideas to solve problems.
Our concentration span can be reduced if we dwell so much in a bad environment or with bad associations that do not allow us the time and chance to be alone.
It’s so difficult to find time to be alone when you keep bad associations or you find yourself in a bad environment where they do not respect or understand the necessity for being alone to think. Situations like this will likely make one’s thinking span reduced from time to time.
If for instance on a normal day one is able to stay an hour thinking of a way of solving a problem, the negative effects of bad associations and environment will probably cause that time to be reduced to a lesser time.
This is because the moment one is being distracted by negativity or nuisance, one’s emotions get affected which can force it to adjust to the situation to allow it to accommodate the changes. In the process of accommodating such changes is the moment one’s thinking span gets depleted by the day.
- They can steal our ‘meditation’ ability
As the light glows, so does it dwindle if not recharged or supercharged continuously. Meditation ability which to an extent may be seen as a gift can be probably gone if we do not practice to enhance it. The negative effects of bad associations and environment can have a huge impact on our ability to meditate.
At some point, we might forget that we have such ability and might not be able to use it anymore as our brain can no longer dwell in such an environment where it can stay unperturbed for hours without interference from the outside world.
We can lose our ability to think if we don’t engage in it or probably, we may lose a part of our ability to deep think when it calls for it. Aside from losing thinking time, losing our ability to meditate is more damaging because it can be hard to retrieve when gone.
On the contrary, dwelling in a positive or good environment gives us the opportunity to engage in such habits because it can be understood by those around us. Losing the ability to meditate becomes less likely, instead can be fueled
- They can cause us to change our most cherished habits
The negative effects of bad associations and environments have a huge impact on our habits especially when it has to do with our most cherished habits.
If one of our habits is reading, associating ourselves with people who are negative about books, may force us to yield to their appeal asking us to reduce our rate of reading as they feel and think it’s not giving us enough time to have fun with them.
Associating with negative people or staying in a negative environment can influence our habits, in the sense that we might find ourselves deviating from our core habits. It can force our positive values to change which in turn changes our habits.
If you are a deep thinker, you will find yourself losing your oil because negative friends would make you think of it as being out of your mind.
In the process of trying to please them, you will also be the process of you losing your gift of thinking deeply. The oil will begin to dry up little by little. This is more of the reason why you have to be careful with the friends you keep.
The negative effects of bad associations and environment can ruin any good habit and can quickly make one learn habits that are life-threatening.
- They can cause us to forget who we really are as individuals
The negative effects of bad associations and environment can cause a person to forget who they are as individuals. It causes one to forget how they started and the reason why they are still where they are.
Often, when we begin to ride along with people with a negative mindset, we tend to forget who we really are on the inside.
Our originality begins to fade away from our faces. Boundaries that we always kept, will begin to break down, and as time passes by we will find ourselves engaging in unproductive discussions that in no way support our core individuality.
With time, we may begin to shift from who we are to who we are not, and the moment we are in the web of who we are not, we find it difficult to retrace our steps.
Bottom-line
There are so many negative effects of bad associations and environment that we may encounter on our way to achieving our life dreams and goals.
Any of the above-mentioned reasons can keep us at a spot, draw us backward or write us off entirely from achieving our life dreams and goals if we do not start paying close attention to who we stay close to as we venture into our daily life activities.
There are different ways of dealing with a situation where we find ourselves in a negative environment.
The main idea is to stay positive while in a negative environment, and while working out ways to get out to avoid getting contaminated.
Returning to the same environment later to effect change should be a choice after getting out. Be wary of the negative effects that bad associations and environment bring along with it. They can change the course of a person’s life in a matter of seconds.
What other effects do you think bad associations and environment have on a person’s life? Tell us in the comment section.
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
