Always do your best…….especially when it comes to choosing your friends and influences. Successful lives are motivated by dynamic purpose, and a strong sense of self. That sense comes from being committed to your authenticity and following your own star. It also means choosing your friends and influences well…..because the people you spend time with have a profound effect on what you will try and ultimately accomplish. They are the people you go to when you need a compassionate ear, advice on an issue, or validation of your thoughts and ideas. They hold a lot of power……over you.
Ancient wisdom tells us that we have friends for a reason, season, or a lifetime……so while some friends will spend our entire journey with us. Others will come and then go and that is ok. They may have come for a season to teach us a lesson we needed to know; they may have come for a reason to teach us how to love and how to be love. Ultimately, we realize that some people will suck the life energy out of us….and some will give us energy, and bring light into our lives. It is our ability to make choices about the company that we keep – about who stays and who goes that determines our quality of life. We experience what we tolerate….and when you have learned all you can learn in a relationship, its season will end and the healing will begin.
Robin Sharma said “Choose your influences well….we do not move through our days alone or apart from the world around us. And so we must always be aware of the things and the people we allow into our lives. It’s a mark of wisdom to choose to spend time in those places that inspire and energize you and associate with those people who elevate and uplift you. Whether in our work or within our personal lives, these most positive friends and peers will inspire us to be our greatest selves and to lead our largest lives.”