Choose Your Company Wisely
There are so many people in our lives, and whether we feel it or not, our time here is limited. Sometimes we spread ourselves thin trying to make time and space to accommodate the people in our lives. You may find yourself wondering who is actually worthy of your time. The answer is quite simple: people who uplift you and believe in both you and your goals. These are the people that you should be making time for. Our time here is valuable, and we should be spending our time with people who make us feel like we want to be better instead of wasting our time with people who make us feel stagnant or complacent.
We are the company that we keep. If you haven’t considered that point already, let that sink in for a minute. Now, ask yourself some questions. How do the people that you choose to keep in your life benefit you? How do you benefit them? What can you gain from your personal relationships? Who inspires you? Who has your back? Do you have any friends that don’t support you? Do you feel as if some of your friends are only around for superficial reasons?
As we grow older, many of us begin to realize that the amount of friends that we have begins to shrink. This is because we naturally begin to weed out people who don’t lift us up and help us to grow. When certain circumstances in our lives change, so might our friendship circles. We begin to notice things like who was still friends with us after losing a job and not being able to party as hard on the weekends. We acknowledge who was there to listen to us cry for the third or thirtieth time after our last break up. If you haven’t been paying close attention to your friendships in that way, take note. Keep track of who is there for you in times of need and who isn’t. Keep track of those who are only contacting you when they want or need something from you. Take note of those who never follow through on the promises that they are always making. These are the people who are not worthy of your valuable time. If you find that some of the people in your life aren’t serving you in a positive way, you don’t need them. If you have people in your life who don’t believe in you and support your goals, let go of them. Don’t be afraid to cut ties with people who don’t help elevate you and your spirits. Don’t be afraid to have a small circle of friends. As you grow older, notice that quality really is more important to quantity when it comes to our relationships. Life is not a popularity contest.
This is your life that you’re living right now. You’re not preparing for your life. You’re already living it, and you don’t have time to spend on people who are not worthy of it. Let that sink in. You are a wonderful person who’s capable of endless, amazing things. Why spend time with anyone who sees you as anything less? You’re a person that’s worth knowing, but that doesn’t mean that everyone should be able to get to know you. Check other people’s motives. Allow their actions to show you the roles that they wish to play in your life, and ask yourself if it’s enough for you. Ask yourself if you’re in healthy and sustainable relationships with the people in your life. Ask yourself if your relationships allow you to feel challenged to grow and become a better version of yourself.
I’ve shed many friends over the years. The ending of some relationships definitely wasn’t easy. Sometimes I couldn’t understand why they were ending, and that hurt. Now after much reflection, I can see that the people that I no longer have in my life aren’t here for a reason even if I was too close to the situation to see that at the time. I’m also aware that the people I still have in my life after all of life’s curveballs are here for a reason, and they’ve more than earned my time. These are the people who I can go to for guidance when I want to improve. They’re the same people that believe in me and support me by taking active interest in my life and my goals. These same people have absolutely no problem looking at me and telling me when they think I’ve made a poor choice or took a wrong turn. They don’t do it to hurt my feelings. They do it because they want to keep me honest with myself, and they want to keep me moving forward on the right track. They also do it because they know that I would do the same for them. We all need people like that in our lives. We need people who remind us how amazing and capable we truly are when we sometimes have a hard time remembering on our own.
We’re all connected. Take time to be mindful of whom you let in. Energy is contagious, and you want to keep a tight circle of people that are on the same wavelength as you. Once you’ve identified those that you want to let in, be sure to love yourself first, and then love them. Next, allow them to love you. Mutual love and respect in your relationships will propel you forward. Get rid of anyone extraneous who doesn’t serve your life for the better. Get rid of people who can’t get out of their own clouds of negativity because you don’t want that negativity to permeate into your life, and it will. Sometimes we have to make difficult choices to cut out people that we care about so that we can foster our own greater wellbeing and growth. That’s okay. Choosing your company wisely will help you to maintain your own happiness as well as elevate you to your own personal heights of potential. Reserve your time for people who want to see you win, and you will.
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