You will only ever be as great as the people you surround yourself with; so be brave enough to let go of those who keep bringing you down.
Your happiness and self-worth shouldn’t be entirely dependent on others. But the truth is, personal relationships do have an influence on how you feel, and that includes how you feel about yourself.
An old college friend, Axel, and I grabbed some coffee this morning to catch up. About halfway through our conversation he admitted to me that he was really stressed out. The more I listened to his story, the more I realized that many of his relationships felt like a burden to him. The people he had surrounded himself with weren’t supportive in the least. But it was a burden to which he’d become so accustomed, he didn’t even know he’d been carrying it until he spoke to me and was able to lay down the heavy load for a while. The pain of relationships that aren’t working are like a subtle background ache – we don’t notice how much they hurt because we’ve grown so used to the constant discomfort.
How have you been feeling lately? How are your relationships going? The two can be more intertwined than we often realize. As soon as I suspected Axel’s relationships might be having an impact on his happiness and self-esteem, I asked him a question that made him think:
What should a healthy relationship provide for the people in it?
Truth be told, life is way too wonderful and short to waste time with people who don’t treat you right. So surround yourself with people who inspire you to smile. People who help you up when you’re down. People who would never take advantage of you. People who are honest and genuinely care. They are the ones worth keeping in your life. Everyone else is just passing through.
If you feel like your relationships are bringing you down, here are some signs you may be hanging with the wrong crowd:
1. They say you don’t have what it takes.
Never let someone’s opinion of you wash away your inner strength and spirit. Never sacrifice who you are or what you aspire to be because someone else sees [Read more…]