This month (June) is Pride Month and for many it is an opportunity to be recognised for who they are, as they are. I thought I’d consider what it means to be yourself.
We each have our own peculiar behaviours and habits and they make up our overall personality. Some we might not recognise as peculiar, either because we’ve always done it that way or it is something that the family always instilled into us (one of my behaviours is that I use a tea spoon over a normal sized spoon for deserts; something I’ve always done and although I know it’s weird and unusual I just find it easier to work with)
It’s what we decided to do when we called out on those behaviours. Should we shut them down, hide them away, or just embrace and project? As with so much in life, there are many factors to take into consideration in making that decision. In business, we can use something called PESTLE analysis to track the environment that the organisation operates in and from that decide whether or not to bring a product to market. This is one of those conceptual tools that I think can also be applied to life, albeit with a few tweaks.
PESTLE stands for Political, Economic, Social, technological, Legal and Environmental. So how would that apply to positivity in being yourself?
Political – there may be some governmental influences that can be imposed in enabling you to be yourself. This may be (for example) having to pay a much higher tax on acquiring the clothes that enable you to feel comfortable (I’m finding that many of the cool toys I enjoy aren’t sold in the UK, so I have to acknowledge that in order to be myself – a toy photographer – I’ll probably have to spend on import taxes). There is a lot here that will link to the Legal element, so I’ll attempt to link them there.
Economic factors – these sort of link with the political factors, but also cover changes due to political and social effects, such as a change of political regimes, wars. Knowing that the VAT rate is going to go up will impact whether you choose to buy that fabulous dress now, or later.
Social factors – this is probably the biggest factor in directly impacting you being yourself. If the culture around you is negative it will make it very difficult to allow you to express yourself, so finding a cultural identity and embracing that can provide the scaffolding needed to help bring your inner resilience.
Technological – in business this is understanding the technical and mechanical advantages. Knowing that streaming was going to be the future may have saved Blockbusters video rentals; but for positivity it’s about finding the right social media support groups. I have a couple of fitness machines that I use regularly and am also a member of the users group; they are great for finding out about how others got on with a particular workout and how their fitness journeys are going; I can receive (and offer) advice and experience to a worldwide audience. Of course, it is worth recognising that social media isn’t always “sunshine and rainbows”; it is also a place where trolls can post intense negativity and bad feeling; sometimes it’s easier to step away.
Legal – this also includes some government, economic and even social factors. Some countries have laws that actively discriminate against people being true to themselves in public. Some of those laws may well be considered archaic (especially when the country itself is considered ‘evolved’) but this will definitely be a factor in whether you can be open on being yourself.
Environmental – again in business this is how the environment around the company would impact certain industries (for example, farming), but in this instance we can consider this more personally as we read reports about climate change and our carbon footprint. If we choose to care about the environment, how does that impact on our ability to be ourselves? Is there a need to re-evaluate how we live?
The point about using the PESTLE analysis in this way is that it is a tool that will allow us to reflect in the round and decide how we can be ourselves. If I wanted to be proud and be myself as a fitness guru, even in this “prime of my life” state (post 50!):
Political – fortunately the COVID rules have relaxed, but during the pandemic I could only go out to exercise once a day, but not at the gym as they had been closed. So I needed to think about how I could exercise. As it was, living in the country meant I wouldn’t see anybody when out on my runs, and I bought some home gym equipment so I could exercise indoors too.
Economic – the economic factor here was that many people had the same idea about working out at home, so finding suitable equipment was hard and expensive as more equipment was being shipped from abroad
Social – not being able to go to the gym and workout with others was a pain; when I was out running I either had to wear a mask, or try to run on the other side of the road. When Parkrun restarted, the first few runs made me quite anxious being in the huddle at the start of the run
Technological – having the indoor equipment made use of technological advances and helped me to enjoy my workouts (it still does). Having the incline and resistance increase whilst running in the Grand Canyon as part of one work out gave me the opportunity to escape from being in my house to a much wider world. Also, as I noted earlier, social media enabled me to promote good mental health to a wider audience.
Legal – There wasn’t much “Legally” as a factor here; I did need to recognise and state that I’m not a medical professional (I have certificates from a few mental health / mental awareness courses); during COVID there were a number of rules we needed to follow to protect ourselves and others.
Environmental – I suppose environmentally I needed to accept that my new fitness machines were going to draw additional power, but again the factors here are quite low.
So from considering these factors, I think I can proudly be myself as a fitness guru! As it happened in 2020 I went from being sixteen stone (224 pounds, 101kg) to fourteen stone (196 pounds, 89Kg) and my running splits dropped hugely; so I must have being doing something right!
I realise that using PESTLE (or indeed any business analysis tool) doesn’t take into consideration emotion and feeling, which in themselves is a major factor. What I would encourage though is that if you are struggling with your emotions around who you feel you are, talking to someone confidentially may help.
The Black Crane 