One of the most important things that we do in life is to choose our friends. Friends are someone whom we feel close to, with whom we share our joys and celebrations and who support us in difficult times. As such, if someone may ask us if we have the right friends, it may offend us for the law of magnetism states that we attract people similar to who we are. Not having the right friends effectively reflects on us that we ourselves do not possess the right traits to move forward towards achieving our purpose and succeeding in life.

This, therefore, needs deliberate intentionality and self introspection because until we are intentional about this exercise, we will never objectively assess our friendships and realize that it may be time to change our friend circle. What we need in our friends is to have a positive attitude and a strong character who uplifts is further rather than those with a negative attitude and a weak character who pulls us down.

When we were young, I remember parents being very particular about the company their children kept. Irritating, though it may have felt then, hindsight does tell us our parents were deliberate to know about our company so they could monitor if we had friends that were taking us uphill or bringing us downhill.

When it comes to our relatives, we do not have a choice and many people today do not have good experiences with the majority of their relatives but not so with friends since friends are someone we choose ourselves. What we, however, need to realize is that friends and immediate family, especially the spouse make us who we are. It is therefore of utmost importance that we spend time reflecting on who is injecting positivity in us and who is breeding negativity.  In the real world, it may not be as easy to unfriend people the way we can do with friends on social media. However, this is what is needed. I am not asking you to start fights with your friends and tell them that you do not want to be friends with them anymore. No, that is not the intent. It is just about focusing on your priorities and purpose that you want to achieve and to assess if your friends really support you and encourage you on the path of your dreams or they are negative and discourage you.

You may resonate with many instances where very bright children ultimately could not succeed in life and reach their true potential and a big reason could be the company they had. Similarly, people not so good at their work still attained higher than expected heights because they were privileged to come in contact with friends who uplifted them and took them to the heights that they could live beyond their dreams.

Time again for some self-introspection!!!

To conclude, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy that attacks you, but the fake friend that hugs you.”

Your partner in personal growth – Nalin Chandna