Have you ever heard of the saying, “You are who you hang out with”? How do you feel about it? Do you consider it true?
Even though most of us won’t admit it, many people we’ve hung out with have a significant influence on our lives. That’s why we should all be careful about who we let into our inner circle.
Your family members, closest friends, romantic partners… – they all affect the quality of your life and that’s a fact.
Or, as motivational speaker Jim Rohn explains, “You become like the five people you spend the most time with. Choose carefully.”
If you spend a great amount of time with someone on a daily basis, acquiring their habits is inevitable. After some time, you start behaving like that person.
Now, let’s back up to what Rohn’s said. Think about it. Who are the five people you spend the most time with?
Are all of them positive people with a positive mindset? Would you be happy and proud to become the same as all of them? Do they encourage you to be better?
If your answer to these questions is NO, then it’s necessary to change some things in your life. It’s necessary to change the circle of your closest friends.
Sooner or later, you’ll become the same as them; it’s the inevitable truth.
You’ll behave the same as they do, your daily life habits will be changed, and you’ll completely lose your identity – that most important part of you.
Soon enough, as strange as it may sound, you’ll start looking at them as your role models and be trying to copy them completely in everything they do.
Friendship is some kind of school for all of us. It’s a never-ending learning process. You’ll teach your friends some things, but you’ll also learn a whole lot of valuable lessons from them.
The quality of your life is greatly influenced by your inner circle. So, be very careful who you let in.
You’re probably asking what kind of people then you should be surrounding yourself with. It’s actually quite easy.
Surround yourself with people who have a positive influence on your life. Hang out with those who believe in you and encourage you to follow your dreams.
Hang out with successful people who also encourage you to take your career to the next level.
Those who enjoy life, those who have similar life values as you, those who have dreams and goals for their future, and work hard to accomplish them.
Those are the kind of people you should surround yourself with.
We all know that the opinion of our closest friends is very important to us.
If they don’t agree with something we plan to do, chances are we end up not doing it.
Think about the last year of your life. Have you changed since? If you have, why is that?
Did you want to change because you weren’t pleased with your life or because people around you didn’t like you and you wanted to please them?
I know that we all feel the need to be accepted by those around us, but it’s never worth changing completely who you are and losing your true self.
You can never please everyone around you and that’s okay. You have to know who your closest friends are – those are the only people whose opinion should be important.
They are the only ones who can have a significant influence on your life. But also, there should be boundaries.
No matter how much you love someone, you should never allow them to control you. The rudder of your life is in your hands only; only you have the right to control your life.
Those who truly love you will always accept you for who you really are. They will never try to change you.
Of course, there will always be some differences between you and your friends – that’s to be expected – but there is something beautiful in it that most people don’t realize.
We have to embrace and love each other despite those little differences because that’s precisely what makes us human beings.
The vibe is such a strange thing. It’s contagious. If you hang out with positive people, you’ll be positive and optimistic too.
And no matter how adamant you are that someone’s mood won’t affect yours, if you surround yourself with people who are sending off only bad vibes, you’ll be affected by it and it’ll change your mood for sure.
Life is so beautiful, but unfortunately so short. That’s why you should enjoy every moment of it. There’s honestly no need to hang out with people who only drain your energy.
Always remember, you are who you hang out with, so choose your inner circle of friends wisely and carefully. They have a big influence on how you shape your life.
You become who you hang out with quotes
Here are some quotes that will, hopefully, help you understand the importance of surrounding yourself with people who bring out the best from you. Check them out!
1. “Always work with / surround yourself with people who help make you a better version of you. Kindly avoid those who don’t.” – Don Roff
2. “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” – Mark Ambrose
3. “Surround yourself with those conducive to you being your highest self.” – A.D. Posey
4. “Energy is contagious, positive, and negative alike. I will forever be mindful of what and who I am allowing into my space.” – Alex Elle
5. “Make a conscious effort to surround yourself with positive, nourishing, and uplifting people. People who believe in you, encourage you to go after your dreams, and applaud your victories.” – Jack Canfield
6. “Surround yourself with people that inspire and encourage positive change in your life. Build a team in which you can work together to support each other and build better lives.” – Avina Celeste
7. “Always surround yourself with people who are better than you. If you’re hanging around bad people, they’re going to start bringing you down. But if you surround yourself with good people, they’re going to be pulling you up.” – Donny Osmand
8. “You need to associate with people that inspire you, people that challenge you to rise higher, people that make you better. Don’t waste your valuable time with people that are not adding to your growth. Your destiny is too important.” – Joel Osteen
9. “There are some people who may be good yet toxic for you, so be careful of who you surround yourself with.” – Gift Gugu Mona
10. “Surround yourself with the dreamers, and the doers, the believers, and thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see the greatness within you, even when you don’t see it yourself.” – Edmund Lee
11. “It’s most important that you surround yourself with positivity always, and have it in your mind at all times.” – Tyler Perry
12. “Show me your friends and I would tell you who you are.” – Vanilla Ice
13. “To remain far-sighted, you need to surround yourself with far-sighted visionaries. You need to surround yourself with people who think like you. You need to surround yourself with people who speak the same language as you. You need to surround yourself with people who fight and refuse to give up on their destiny. You need to surround yourself with people whose testimonies give you reasons to press on.” – D.S. Mashego
14. “As much as people refuse to believe it, the company you keep does have an impact and influence on your choices.” – Unknown
15. “Never surround yourself with people who are envious of your ambitions. Decide to be at the right place at the right time and save yourself for greater opportunities.” – Israelmore Ayivor
16. “Do not expect positive changes in your life if you surround yourself with negative people.” – Unknown
17. “Surround yourself with people that reflect who you want to be and how you want to feel. Energies are contagious.” – Unknown
18. “Having the strength to pull yourself away from the toxicity and surrounding yourself with all the nourishing things you need to grow is a huge accomplishment. Although, not everybody has supporting family and friends in this new world of ours, but that doesn’t mean you should give up, there is a whole world out there full of great people willing to help you succeed you just have to learn how to surround yourself with them and appreciate them, not use them for your own selfishness. And then my friend you have learned a life lesson.” – Bonnie Zackson Koury
19. “Funny how your quality of life improves dramatically when you surround yourself with good intelligent kind-hearted positive loving people.” – Unknown
20. “You can not change the people around you. But you can change the people that you choose to be around.” – Unknown
21. “As your life changes, so will your circle.” – Unknown
22. “Surround yourself with positive people who believe in your dreams, encourage your ideas, support your ambitions, and bring out the best in you.” – Roy Bennett
The bottom line
One and only conclusion is that we truly do become like people we hang out with. The saying “You are who you hang out with” is 100% true.
Teenagers are naive. At that young age, we only want to hang out with those “cool” groups of people and don’t pay attention to how it influences our lives.
We make mistakes. We do some things that we don’t feel proud of when we grow up and become wiser.
We do it all only because we want to please our friends and become “part of the group.” You’ll see… You’ll learn from your own mistakes.
The first time a good friend or someone close to you betrays you, you’ll see that you should think hard the next time you want to let someone come near to you.
You’ll understand that sometimes the best you can do to save yourself is to let go of some close people that were only spreading their bad vibes and changing you for the worse.
Over time, you’ll learn that people aren’t always how they seem because there are so many who pretend they are good but actually just want to use you.
Not all people who say they love you and want the best for you are sincere. You shouldn’t believe everyone.
That’s why we should all pay more attention and choose our close friends carefully and now, in the time of the internet and social media, even more so.
Your friends are your family also. And if you spend a great amount of time with someone on a daily basis, you just can’t help but start behaving like that person, despite knowing it’s not good for you.
Now, think about all this and then let go. Let go of people you feel insecure and uncomfortable around.
Let go of those who make you doubt yourself and feel unworthy. Let go of those whose pessimistic views on life don’t allow you to enjoy life and be positive about what the future will bring.
Stop hanging out with people who are jealous of all others because jealousy is contagious, too. Do not hang out with those who only drag you down; you’ll never progress in life that way.
Surround yourself with successful people – those with a positive mindset and good vibes. People who will have a good impact on you and help you with your personal growth.
Now, you have to ask yourself whether those people around you are actually “role model” material.
If they aren’t – if you aren’t so proud of who you hang out with – it’s time to let go of them and allow yourself the opportunity to meet new people, starting today.
I really hope this article helps you understand the importance of choosing friends to surround yourself with. If you choose carefully, your future will be safe.
