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During high school, we were drawn to certain friends because of our childhood ambitions and interests. BFF qualifiers include a shared love of basketball or underage drinking. But then we grew up.
Fast forward a decade. You’ve changed your home, your values, your career, and your life. But while every aspect of your life was being reassessed and updated, your friendships were not. Your friends consist of those with whom you have shared a history. But are memories of primary school and Kodak moments enough?
There is a beauty in having old friends that I won’t deny, but history alone is not enough to carry an old friendship into the present and then into the future. You will become the people you surround yourself with. We are all energy. If you subject yourself to peers who are negative, insecure, or destructive, it will affect you. Regardless of your strength as an individual, you are not immune to a constant environment of negative energy or bad influence.
Your friendships, like everything else in your life, need updating. They need to be reassessed from time to time to determine if they are still working in your life. Your friends should bring out the best in you. If you are surrounded by people who bring out the worst in you, it is a serious warning that the friendship does not fit into your life. True friends are those who have the courage to tell you when you are lost. They care enough to have those difficult conversations that most people will avoid.
If you want greatness in your life, surround yourself with great people. If you aspire to be a happy, fulfilled, honest, confident, powerful, and principled person, surround yourself with people who are the same. Is this selfish and heartless? No, that’s not it. Because when you are negatively influenced by someone, it affects how you interact with the people who love you. Once you allow a negative force to permeate your life, you hurt yourself, which ultimately affects everyone around you. In no way am I saying that you should dump the people you love. You can love these people all you want. But selecting them for your immediate peer group is a different story.
Choose your business wisely. Be ruthless, and surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you. Your direction in life depends on it. And while you’re at it, have the courage to be a good friend to those who choose you.
Photo credit: Camille Rose
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