Throughout our entire life, we are constantly surrounded by different people. Of course, we have our families. Aside from that, we are constantly meeting and interacting with new people. We see them at school and at work or even just the grocery store or the gym. Some of them tend to stick around like our families and those that we become friends with. We build relationships and connections with them. But how many of those people are really benefiting your life? How many are helping you grow? How many are actually supporting you or motivating you?

The thing is that sometimes we meet people and they are great. They befriend us and we build a relationship with them only to find out that they aren’t who we thought they were. Often times people tend to hide their true colors. It may take a year to figure out who they are or it could take even just a few months. Of course, this isn’t the case with everyone you meet because there are genuinely some amazing people in the world.

Those amazing people that we meet help us get through the troubles of life and the want to see and help us succeed. Those are the type of people that if you need them at 3 in the afternoon or 3 in the morning, you could count on them and they would be there for you no matter what. Those people are your people. Those are the ones that you want to keep by your side.

Now, what about the ones that aren’t there to support you? Or the ones that are always negative? And don’t forget about the ones that only want to talk to you when they need something but when you need something they are no where to be found. These people are anchors. They are anchors because they weigh you down and hold you back. It could be something as simple as you always do what they want to do because they are selfish and they never adapt to what you like. Or it could be extreme and it could be that someone you know does drugs or they are always negative and trying to bring you down. Some people also purposely criticize you and put you down and try to tell you that you can’t follow your dreams. These anchors can come in many different forms.

There can also be people that can change into an anchor. Maybe they weren’t an anchor when you met them but now they are. Unfortunately, that is the reality of it. Things change and people change and there is nothing we can do about it. But there is something we can do and it is something that we need to do.

We have to learn to recognize these anchors in our life and we have to learn when to cut them off and leave them behind. These anchors are weighing us down and they are holding us back. It could be something major or it could be something minor, but regardless we still need to let them go if they are making us sacrifice ourselves. We are all destined for great things in life but if someone is holding you back, you must be strong enough to recognize if they are an anchor because it will prevent you from succeeding.

Unfortunately, sometimes we have to let go of people that we don’t want to. It could be a romantic partner, a friendship or even a family member. But if they are not good for us, we can’t change who they are. Only they can change themselves if they want change.