The people you spend time with shape more than your mood. They shape your standards. Your language. Your tolerance for excuses. Your understanding of what is possible.
Way back in 1999, I wrote, “If you hang out with chickens, you’re going to cluck and if you hang out with eagles, you’re going to fly.” This holds true to this day.
Sit with people who have been through something and kept going. People who know the difference between complaining and communicating. People who have scars, discipline, perspective, and enough self-awareness to know that strength is not the absence of struggle.
The conversation is different there.
The insight is different there.
The WHY is different there.
Warriors do not need every story to end with them as the victim. They can talk about pain without worshiping it. They can admit fear without surrendering to it. They can acknowledge what happened to them without allowing it to become the permanent definition of who they are.
And perhaps most importantly, they do not require you to shrink so they can feel strong.
They learn, feel, adjust, and go again.
The right table will challenge you, sharpen you, encourage you, and remind you of the parts of yourself that difficult seasons tried to make you forget.
Choose your company carefully.
Some conversations drain your strength.
Others remind you that you have it.
Steve Maraboli
