The majority of my friends are the types of people who inspire me to be a better person. When I am with them, it is so easy to be honest, respectful, fun-loving, and amiable because they have all of those charisteristics. With them, anything less than absolute poise feels taboo.
There are, however, some people who cause me to make terrible decisions. People who want me to disrespect teachers, blow off friends, gossip, lie, and think of myself before others. And although I could never dislike these people themselves because I am sure they are kind and well intentioned at heart, I can, and do, dislike the person I am when I am with them.
They say integrity is who you are when no one is looking. I think that is complete bull shit. Anyone can be a nice person without others around to influence your every move, but it takes a genuine, honest person to be that same personality around people who act the complete opposite way. A good person makes good decisions regardless of who he or she is with. In fact, the the person who can surround himself with awful people and still be independently strong is, in my opinion, a better person than he who is always surrounded by good people.
As great as an impact people can have on my decisions, the same level can be turned the other way and that, to me, is one of the scariest thoughts to have. It makes me wonder, am I ever truly my self or am I always just a product of my environment? Which one of these influenced personalities is the real me? I know which one I am more consistently, but I also know the type of people I surround myself with more often.
For now, I am aiming to spend more time with the people who make me the type of person I want to be. And even if that is not the real me, at least it is a me I can grow to love.
This will be forever known as "my favorite pick-me-up." It's much less fattening than Half Baked Anyways
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