The Energy Audit
The people you surround yourself with have a huge impact on your life. They can influence your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in both positive and negative ways. Choose wisely! If you need to take an audit of who you surround yourself with, do an energy audit. When you hang with negative people who don’t support you, your relationships, your business, or your ideas, their negativity wears off on you. With 2023 being a mere few days away, it’s the perfect time to take an audit of where your energy is going and how you can improve it.
Here are 5 reasons why the people you hang with shape you and things to think about going into the new year.
1) The people you surround yourself with can alter your views
The most noticeable way your friends affect you is that they can prompt you to adopt certain views, values, and beliefs.
2) They encourage or discourage you
Those around you can either help you grow or discourage you from leveling up in life. For example, if your best friend doesn’t take your aspirations seriously, it may affect the way you view your goals. If you face mockery every time you talk about it, your dreams may start to seem silly or unattainable. If those around you don’t want to see you succeed, you may feel discouraged and eventually give up. The people you hang out with have a huge impact on your motivation levels. Support from your family and friends means a lot when it comes to working towards your goals.
3) They shape your habits and behaviors
You are who you hang out with also because of the power of peer pressure. Its effect is more profound at a younger age, but adults can be prone to it too. Typically, people stick with those who have similar habits and lifestyle choices to their own. Your friends can either lead you to bad choices or motivate you to resist them.
4) They fill you with positive or negative emotions
When you are surrounded by negative people who constantly complain or talk ill of others, it inevitably takes a toll on your emotional wellbeing. You may not even realize this, but the effect of dealing with negative people will show up sooner or later.
5) They affect your self-esteem and happiness levels
The people you surround yourself with also play a crucial role in how satisfied you feel about yourself and your life. It makes sense that if you hang out with critical personalities who make you feel insignificant, it ultimately affects your perception of yourself. The same is true if your friends are supportive and kind – in this case, they will make you feel better about yourself.
Are there people in your life that are just always miserable or negative? Those people need to be audited out. 2022 was not an overly positive year for many of us, but we don’t need to carry over the baggage into 2023. Are there people that just really make you laugh, that you enjoy talking to and being around? Make more plans with those people and get out with them more, or even FaceTime and make a point to see them. Make a point of working on your life force.
Your life force is made up of how you take care of your body, your mind, and your soul. Make exercising, taking care of your body, and eating well a priority. Take care of your mind by learning, resting, getting enough sleep, and not overdoing it. Take care of your soul by doing things that make you smile. As the saying goes, “tell me who your friends are and I will not only tell you who you are, but where you are going.” That makes a lot of sense! Take control of the energy around you and those you let into your life as the new year starts, and read over these additional quotes that really exemplify the power of your circle.
“The people you choose to associate with determine a lot of where you’re going in life.” -Steve Harvey
“Surround yourself with people who reflect what you want to be and how you want to feel. Energy is contagious.” -Unknown
“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you and spend a lot of time with them. It will change your life.” -Amy Poehler
“You are only going to be as good as the people you surround yourself with. So be brave enough to let go of those who keep weighing you down.” -Unknown
“Show me your friends, and I will show you your future. The people you’re hanging out with today are shaping the person you will become tomorrow.” -Unknown
XOXO, Heather