Polyurethane and Psychologically Unhealthy Environments

The other week, I learned how to polyurethane a wooden floor. Took a paint roller with a long handle and rolled the viscous, translucent stuff all over a cafeteria. About half way through, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted a break. He’d take over. I consented and walked outside to get some fresh air.

The thing about polyurethane is that fumes are powerful. I didn’t know that. During the time I was rolling the stuff onto the floor, I was slowly acclimating to the potent fumes and didn’t know that they posed a threat to me if inhaled for too long. Sort of like sniffing paint or glue. Over time, it kills brain cells.

Getting back to the story, after about five minutes of fresh air, I decided to go back into the cafeteria to see how the rest of the polyurethane application was coming along. Walking into the door, I was hit by a wave of fumes that knocked me over. I couldn’t go in. I had to back up. The fumes were way too intense. How was I in there so long? Basically, I had acclimated to the environment just like the story goes that a frog acclimates to slowly boiling in water over time. In the end, it can kill.

Psychologically unhealthy environments present a similar situation. In workplaces, families, churches, clubs, organizations, and other institutions, we can spend months, years, or even decades living in these sub-cultures because we acclimated to these unhealthy environments over time.

The problem with operating within psychologically unhealthy environments is that we often don't know we're in them in the first place, nor the gravity of the situation. Do you think you might be in a psychologically unhealthy environment, but you aren't sure how serious it is or what to do about it? I highly recommend the books Safe People and Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend as resources to help you determine if there is a situation that needs addressing in one way or another.

Polyurethane. It overtook me in less than 60 minutes of work. I didn't know there was a problem. It took a friend of mine asking me if I wanted to take a break and step outside. Psychologically unhealthy environments are very similar. They can overtake us without our knowledge. I hope my book recommendations might help you in "taking a step outside" to see if there might be a problem or not.

2011 addendum: By the way, the best way to know if one of these books are for you is if you have a general sense of angst, loneliness, resentments, or anxiety that have lasted for long periods of time. That probably means that you have been residing in a psychologically unhealthy envronment for a long time without knowing it. You'll need to find some safe people who can help you set up some boundaries in order to dwell in a more psychologically healthy environment. These books can at least help you begin this process.