You Are Who You Follow

Oprah says, "Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift you higher." And it's so true but it's something I stumble with all of the time. There was a time when I was absolutely everywhere - I was at all the local events and online on every social network all of the time.  I accepted every Facebook friend request, followed back on Twitter and took business cards from people whose services I would never need. Why? Actually, I have no idea.  I guess it felt good to have large numbers of contacts, like I was validated and popular.

And then one day I realized as I was flipping through my streams that I didn't like most of the posts. There were complaints and political rants, senseless negativity and humor that was not humorous. I don't even want to go into the GIF posters. So I began the process of unravelling all that I had built. 1,000+ connections on LinkedIn and I realized that I hated using the site. It made me tense and felt like a task I 'had' to do. So I deleted my account and it felt so freeing! I had no idea that having my energy was being tied up in something so silly was a giant waste of my resources. It wasn't lifting me up and deleting felt like an anchor being cut off. 

What else was dragging me down? I started looking at my stream differently. Every time I saw a post I didn't like or a person pop up that made me feel less than happy I deleted, removed, unfriended or muted. I was a total post Nazi. I started following people who inspire me, not just businesses that wanted me to like them, friends or no. I asked myself if what the person was delivering was something that would lift me up, add value to my life, make me smile just to see their name. 

The energy I put into my brain is the energy that can be used to make my life amazing - or it can be the energy that drags me down. It's a choice.  

I'm not obligated to be friends with anyone or to read or see anything that doesn't move me. I control my stream - me, it's my stream and I choose to be lifted.