diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b749488..9dfb5d3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -168,6 +168,8 @@ const credentials = env.getAWS({ region: 'us-west-2' });
 
 Some folks like to store secrets in AWS secrets manager in the form of a JSON object as opposed (or in addition) to environment variables. It's me, I'm some folks. Good Env now supports this pattern. To avoid introducing a dependency you'll have to bring your own instance of AWS Secrets Manager though. Be sure to specify your AWS region as an environment variable, otherwise, it'll default to `us-east-1`.
 
+Not only will your secrets be merged with the Good Env store, but they will also be stored in the underlying `process.env` object in case there are components that are still pulling from the environment directly.
+
 Note, if something goes wrong, this function _will_ throw an error.
 
 ```javascript
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 26023df..6dbd00a 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "good-env",
-  "version": "7.6.0",
+  "version": "7.6.1",
   "description": "Better environment variable handling for Twelve-Factor node apps",
   "main": "src/index.js",
   "scripts": {
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 7127e86..011cec7 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ const isFunction = x => is(x) === '[object Function]';
 const parse = (items, converter) => items.map(t => converter(t, 10));
 const mapNums = items => parse(items, parseInt);
 const validType = item => ['number', 'boolean', 'string'].includes(item);
-let store = { ...process.env };
+const store = { ...process.env };
 
 module.exports = Object
   .create({
@@ -43,7 +43,9 @@ module.exports = Object
       );
       const secretStr = response.SecretString;
       const secret = JSON.parse(secretStr);
-      store = { ...store, ...secret };
+      Object.entries(secret).forEach(([key, value]) => {
+        this.set(key, value);
+      });
     },
     /**
      * @description Fetches an IP address from the environment. If the value found under the specified key is not a valid IPv4
diff --git a/test/test.js b/test/test.js
index 9aff442..35ea77a 100644
--- a/test/test.js
+++ b/test/test.js
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ test('it uses secrets manager (happy path)', async (t) => {
   t.equals(secretVal1, 'val1');
   t.equals(secretVal2, 'val2');
 
+  // Ensure it updates the environment variables
+  t.equals(process.env.secretVal1, 'val1');
+  t.equals(process.env.secretVal2, 'val2');
+
   t.end();
 });