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The Right Circle

Growing up my mother used to say “Not everyone is your friend” and “Mind the people around you”. But when you are young, this kind of advice usually goes in one ear and out of the other. Especially during high school when “popularity” is the game. It was not about who was around you but how many were around you. Fast forward 20 years later I realize that my mothers’ advice was golden. The truth is, we are the people we hang around with. 

Now this could be a controversial conversation but bare with me for a moment. Recently, my brother and I just had such a conversation. He believes that as long as you work hard it does not matter who is around you. But from experience that could not be further from the truth. The people you surround yourself with play a huge role in your life. Their actions influence your actions. As humans we can not help but to pick up habits from the people that are around us. To prove my point I will give an example. If your friends are having a party you most likely will attend that event, even if you might not necessarily want to attend. Why? Because as humans we have a fear of missing out. Or, you will have the fear that those friends will not want to hang out with you anymore. Or you fear that they may even think you are lame.  Another example might be, that if you have kids in sports, your friends might have their kids join the same team. Whether we would like to admit it or not, what people do around us usually dictates what we do. 

The same applies when your friends have a side hustle and earn an extra $1000 a month. Our curiosity makes us want to join in or it could be our friend suggesting we join in simply. Either way, due to our relationship, we too may resort to earning a little extra monthly income. I believe our lives are what we make of it, by the mindset and perspective we have. If we surround ourselves with negative people, our lives could become negative. And even if we wake up everyday with a positive mindset, the people around us will find something negative which they will point out and in turn will now force us to focus on that negativity. Which just like the snowball effect, will make your mode grow negative. And some of you all may even argue that all you have to do is stop coming around them. Which only proves my point that what and who is around you affects you. My advice is simple: be careful of the company you keep. Who you share your Goals and Dreams with. Keep positivity around you. The people around you must be people that inspire you to be better, or push you in a positive and uplifting manner, not people you only aim to out shine. Don’t limit your growth potential, attempt to far exceed it. After all, the only person that you are in competition with is yourself. Be better today than you were yesterday.

Most of us keep a circle that makes us feel better about ourselves. Most of the time if we are doing better than the friends we keep It makes us believe that we are doing well. And if this is your goal then cool. But we should be pushing ourselves to be great. We Should always be growing and reaching to become something better than we can imagine. I believe that the Lord has something so much greater for me than what I can imagine and the people around me should want that for me as well. I challenge you to look around and take note of who is in your corner. 

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