A Couple of Observations From My Birthday Weekend
Submitted by Got Strength? Blog
A couple of weeks ago I had a birthday. Yep, believe it or not I do age. I don’t really make a big deal about my birthday anymore. Once you hit the big birthdays (driver’s license, selective service/voting, drinking age, and cheap car insurance) you really don’t have much to count. In fact, I told my father that it was on the wrong day when he asked! Of course, this wasn’t good as I think he was particularly proud of himself for remembering the date without being told!
On my birthday I trained clients in the evening, came home, ate a grilled chicken salad, chatted with Audrey, and went to bed. For a birthday gift she bought me a wiffle ball bat. Not one of those cheesy yellow skinny ones, though. We’re talking one of the big, fat, bright red ones that spank the ball like it owes them money.
At this point many of you are thinking that my birthday sucked! It was all right, seriously. Here’s why: That next weekend three of my best college friends flew into Charleston to spend some days with me. I haven’t seen two of them in a couple of years and one in many months. We immediately took off where we were when we last saw each other; Joking, laughing, sharing pains and glories, and just enjoying great company.
I observed a couple of things over the weekend that really were instructive to me, and I’d like to chat with you about them a bit today. When you read self-help and business mindset books you’ll frequently hear that you need to surround yourself with good, helpful people. I even recommend that in my writings. It was never more poignant to me that this weekend. That’s not to say that there aren’t good people in my life here, there certainly are, but to have three of my best friends together with Audrey and I seemed to bring the whole mood and atmosphere up.
There was encouragement, objective criticism, bullshit called out, and every discussion was toned towards making improvement and helping each other, instead of tearing one another down.
The other thing I noticed was that good people are drawn to each other. You know how sometimes you have two groups of friends, and you think that they won’t get along? Well, if that’s the case then you need to figure out why. Perhaps you might need new friends, or to pick one group. Your friends might see something in the other group that you are blind to.
My old visiting friends had several opportunities to interact with the friends I have here in Charleston, and it was like they were the same group. They were all very different in backgrounds, personalities, and ideals, but they’re all generally good people and are open to discussion with others. It made for some fantastic talks and lots of good times. I make a conscious effort to attract good people and foster relationships with good friends. It made me feel good to see that I am continuing to have success in that area.
What kind of people do you attract?
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May 13th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
That’s a great post man. I can really relate because I’ve got some great friends from college, and when I do see them (although a lot less often than I used to), it’s always like we are still in college. Thanks for the memories.