"Tell me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you are."

It's a proverb so old, no one really knows where it came from anymore. Despite the years, it's held up. I have come to realize that with each passing year, as I grow up and find out the person I am, it only rings truer.

In elementary school and all throughout high school, we gravitated toward the same friend groups. Over the years, we may have slowly floated from one to another. Sometimes, who we spent time with was out of mutual interests like sports or music, or maybe it was simply comfort. Then, when high school ends, some of those friends fall away.

Think about it: everything changed after graduation. We moved away, we met new people, we set new goals, and we developed new ideas. We ourselves changed as individuals. As we have been figuring out what it is we want to do with our lives and the people we want to be, we have made changes and taken steps to move in the right direction. We shouldn't hold on to the people that keep us from doing so. It is okay to cut the ties that hold you back. Do not feel bad about that.

Just as we pick up the phrases and habits of our friends, we pick up on their energies and personalities. Spending too much time around negative friends or those with destructive tendencies will only bring us down and impact the way we live our own lives. The negativity will affect the way that we make decisions for ourselves or how we treat the other people in our lives. By surrounding yourself with genuinely kind and good people, you will become one of those good people that others will want in their lives.

It is okay to keep certain people in our lives. We just need to be honest and critical of ourselves about who it is we keep closest. Be strong enough to put yourself first.

In the recent years, I have lost many people I was once so close with. They were unhappy, immature, and negative. I could feel the weight of them on my back whenever I was around them. Those that I call my best friends now are good people. They are honest, funny, determined, and kind. They have pushed me to be better. Their success and happiness is my success and happiness.