There’s greatness inside all of us; love compassion, courage, understanding…so many good things. There are also ugly things inside all of us; selfishness, envy, toxic thoughts and words…so many ugly things. On a daily basis, we see more or less of these sides of ourselves and others. And believe it or not, a lot of it has to do with our environment and the people we choose to surround ourselves with.
Friends, the people we spend time around are vital to either our growth or our detriment. Surround yourself with people who speak life into you, those who encourage you, compliment you, lift you up. Under these circumstances, your life will grow. Be in constant evaluation of how you feel when you leave a group of people. Do you feel energized, encouraged and full of life? Or do you feel beat down, exhausted and unsure of yourself? Our environment matters. So much more than we think.
We give a lot of credit to our internal state. How are we doing? How do we feel about ourselves? How is our mental state? And it matters, to be sure. It matters a lot actually. But your internal state can only exceed a certain level if the environment it is operating in is toxic. Consider this, we get up in the morning – we feel good, we are happy, our outfit is rocking….we walk out into the family room and our spouse says, “is that what you’re wearing?” You know the tone, you’ve heard the tone. It stops you in your tracks. You leave the office after a great day on the job to go meet a few friends for some drinks. You pull up a seat and immediately join a conversation where the judgement of others is the topic of conversation. You drive home afterwards feeling drained and exhausted.
Sweet friends, pay attention to those you choose to spend your time with. Is it a habit? Are they feeding you good things? Is that relationship producing? If not, it may be time to consider a different route. I am not telling you to blow up your relationships but to pay attention to them and evaluate their impact. It may be time to have some tough conversations with those you love about the way they are speaking to you. Sometimes, we are completely unaware of how we are treating people. Be aware of how you feel after interacting with certain people and pay close attention to your own words as well. Are you drawing out the good in others? Much love and productive relationships sweet friends.
