The company you decide to keep

Birds of feather flock together!
Isn't it a common saying that we all know?
Well, yeah. But, let's question it?!

The company you keep reflects much about your personality: both the truth of who you are, and what you want to become too.

The headline of this message is: People appear in our lives for a reason.

What the company you keep reflects about you, and why

The company you keep reflects much about the truth of who you are because man as a social being gathers with people for a reason.

Man gathers with people because he wants to learn something, expand his interest, enjoy his own life the best way possible - according to his own viewpoint of life.

Man also gathers with people in order to address a specific need within himself. A need to learn, discover, develop, mature and be a better being each new day.
Man is not meant to be stagnate. This is not his normal state of being.

Example?

If you'd like to learn a new skill in your field of study or in your career, you will definitely join a group of people who share the same interest with you. Some of them may have better experience than yours. Some of them are more likely to have a personality that is different from yours. Although you enjoy sharing the same interests, you would clash because of personality differences. This is normal.

In this case, you have two options available:
1) Limit your communication with them to the least degree possible (Withdrawal >> Comfort zone > Stagnation)
2) Open yourself up to them, find other ways to deal with them, and thus discover the skills you need to acquire in order to have a more meaningful and more comfortable (to you) communication with them. (Flexibility >> Self-Discovery & Self-Development)

The two categories of people in our lives

In this sense, we can perceive people in our lives in two ways:

1) As a reflection of what we actually are: This category combines the people with whom we can practice our current skills, or discover new ones. They represent a zone of comfort - barely any challenges. We seek them to get a sense of rest, confidence and refreshment.
E.g.: Your best friend, your unconditionally loving parents, your very nice peers and acquaintances, your fans - friends, family, children... etc.

2) As a reflection of what we want/need to be: This category combines the people whose interaction with us is usually most challenging. They can be perceived as "personal trainers". They draw our attention to the weak spots in our personality that we need to develop and work on.
E.g.: Your tough boss; your "difficult to handle" friend, or child; your narrow-minded colleague; your tough critic; your acquaintances who misunderstand you; the empty-headed bullies.. etc.

How do they influence us? / What do we choose?

If you look at the two categories closely, you will find that the first one can help you keep your life going normally and comfortably. It does not always guarantee you growth and development. It rather keeps your current talents, skills, and potentials going on - practicing. In your career field, you may by time gain mastery over certain skills due to repetition. It is a closed comfortable circle. In other words, a safe way to live life.

The second one, in contrast, puts you on the way toward self-discovery, self-development, and self-transformation. If you are someone who is always seeking development, growth and reformation, you will find yourself blessed and prized to meet this category and you will be enjoying the progress you will be making on the way to improving your levels of maturity and wisdom. You will get your closed circle broken open, and you will experience degrees of development along the way.

Do you really have to do this?

It depends on what you want from your own life experiences. It also depends on the quality of situations and the "significance" of the individuals involved in them. Only you can decide if a situation or an individual is worth an investment of time and/or effort.

***

Each problem represented by any person is solvable. It only depends on their significance in your life as people and as challenges too. After all we are talking about "life lessons" presenting themselves to you in human form. It is up to you to take them and develop, or sit back and watch.

No matter how difficult dealing with people falling in this second category is, they shall be internally honored as teachers, trainers, and guides who show us the parts of our personalities that need repair and development. No matter how ordinary and OK people in the first category are, they still shall be honored as man's "good company".

Wishing you a happier life, and a better time developing and enjoying the types of people appearing in your life.