Valuable Lessons From My Mom: You Are What You Eat And You Are Who You Hang Around With

"People you choose to associate with determine a lot of where you're going in life."

- Steve Harvey

When I was a kid, I used to refer to the other kids in my school as "friends." I would come home from school and tell my mom later in the day, "my friend Jesus got in trouble at recess today and my friend Lucy had to go to the doctor and my friend from another class came to our class to read with us today." My mom would then look at me and say, "not everyone is your friend, they are your classmates." I, of course, would respond back and argue on why everyone at school was my friend.

When I got to high school I got a job at a local Round Table Pizza working part-time a few days a week. I would come home from school and say to my mom that my friend Tim yelled at a customer that day and my friend Chuck decided to call-in sick so we were short-handed. My mom looked at me again and said, "not everyone is your friend, they are your co-workers." I thought my mom was just trying to start a fight!

As I got older I thought about some of the things my mom told me and many of the things she told me that I didn't agree with. Perhaps I'm becoming more mature now and things make a lot more sense. I'm sure that if I ask my mom now as I asked her then who my true friends were, she would probably count them with both hands, nothing more. She was able to tell who my friends really were when I was younger, even though I was the one thinking everyone was my friend.

Life passes us by quickly and people come and go in our lives. However, true friends stay. A friendship is not something to take for granted. The people around you have a lot more influence than you think. Yet, a friend will not harm you or put your life in danger. A friend will not hurt your feelings. A true friend will lend a hand without thinking about it. A friend will motivate you and believe in you even if you don't believe in yourself. A true friend will give you honest feedback for your own sake. A true friend will do the right thing. 

If you have some time to do some reflection this weekend, examine those around you. Are they motivating you? Are they helping you become a better person? Are you a better person because of them? Or are they negative and depressing? Are they telling you why you can't do something instead of how you can accomplish a goal? Do they believe in having goals or do they just like the fact that you guys can go drinking on weekends?

You've heard the term 'we are what we eat'. The same applies for those that surround us. If you hang around negative people, you'll become a negative person. If you hang around unmotivated people, then there will be no need for you to be motivated. If you find out that those people are holding you back, well, then I'll tell you what my mom told me, "not everyone is your friend."


Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way.