The people we surround ourselves with

[00:00:00] **Aurooba Ahmed:** Well, hello. This is The Daily Five with Aurooba, that's me, where we reflect on creating our best lives a little bit every day. Here we go.

[00:00:15] I was reviewing some of the notes I've written throughout the day from yesterday, actually, and something I wrote down caught my attention. Ordinary things can become extraordinary when you do them with the right people and the right attitude.

[00:00:33] It struck me as I read this because it's true. Meal prep is a chore, but it is fun because I do it with my spouse and we both come to it with a great attitude. We laugh, we chat, we listen to music together, it's fun. But it could easily be not fun. It could easily be a bore or something tedious.

[00:00:54] Diagnosing a bug can be annoying, but you can go back and forth with a friend and it's suddenly a little more interesting because you're doing it together, and you're both just trying to solve the issue. It's a small ordinary moment, but it's a nice one, and it could have easily just been annoying or frustrating with a different attitude and perhaps a non friend.

[00:01:16] You know, it's a cliché that you are the sum or product of the seven people you spend the most time with, but it's a cliché because it's true. The people you surround yourself with matter. They have a profound impact on all aspects of your life, implicitly and explicitly. And the attitude you bring to a situation colors it for you, and it triggers certain behaviors, which then trigger other behaviors. If you come to a stressful situation with calmness, you can help others feel calm as well, which brings down stress levels, for example.

[00:01:50] What's interesting to explore is the connection between the people we surround ourselves with and the attitudes we find ourselves taking because they are intricately connected. If you surround yourself with people who complain a lot, you are likely to have the attitude of a complainer as well, which will color all of your relationships and all of your behaviors and actions that you take.

[00:02:16] If you surround yourself with people who always assume positive intent, you are likely to assume positive intent as well, and typically these people, they tend to get along with people well, and it usually translates into a lot of success as well. These two things, people and attitudes, they're tightly connected, and they have cascading effects on moments, hours, days, weeks, and even years of your life.

[00:02:43] If you're an introvert or someone who wouldn't be considered a social butterfly, like me, this becomes even more important. I have a small circle of people I interact with a lot. Primarily it's my family, a few friends, and the folks I regularly work with. These people have a massive impact on my life because their worldviews and perspectives rub off on me. Whether I like it or not, it's just, it's going to happen. It's probably one of the most valuable lessons I've learned in an incredibly hard way in the last five years or so. And for a lot of people, I would say this became even more pronounced after the pandemic happened.

[00:03:23] You know, even the most high stress environment and situation can become bearable, and maybe even enjoyable, if you're surrounded by really great people with great attitudes.

[00:03:33] This is maybe a hilarious and ridiculous connection to make, but I often think about the show, Grey's Anatomy, the early seasons with the original cast. They worked in high stress situations in an environment where their adrenaline was coursing more often than not. But they had fun. I mean, of course, it's a TV show, but still, they were good friends, and that goes a long way in making a tough life or world a little easier to manage.

[00:04:02] It's worth it to be intentional about the people you spend a lot of time with. And this has been top of mind for me for at least the last six months or so. And I've made lots of changes in my life to bring about more positive attitudes. You know, one of my words for this year is glimmers, for example.

[00:04:26] I'm always looking for that moment of happiness, because having that kind of attitude is really helpful. So the next time you find yourself thinking or feeling things in a way you'd rather not, or perhaps in a way you'd like to think more in, think about why that is. How did you arrive there? And how did the people and attitudes in your life impact this particular situation?

[00:04:53] It might be quite interesting.

[00:04:58] Thanks for listening. Same time tomorrow?