cartoon from: Wikipedia.comDid you see the news report about loneliness being contagious? Yeppers. It is. As I thought about it this week, I realize that what Grandmother said was true: "You are known by the company you keep." Of course, what she meant was that if you hang out with bums, you will be known as a bum. But, the truth is, behavior is contagious.
Have you ever noticed that if you hang out with folks who don't exercise, it is easier not to exercise? If you spend time with folks who shop till they drop, you most likely do, too? If you associate with those who sleep too much, there is a good chance you will, too? If we hang out with complainers, we complain. If our friends have half-full glasses, we have half-full glasses. They procrastinate; we procrastinate. Holey moley, it is an epidemic that leaves H1N1 looking like a featherweight at the heavy weight championship.
Have you ever noticed that if you hang out with folks who don't exercise, it is easier not to exercise? If you spend time with folks who shop till they drop, you most likely do, too? If you associate with those who sleep too much, there is a good chance you will, too? If we hang out with complainers, we complain. If our friends have half-full glasses, we have half-full glasses. They procrastinate; we procrastinate. Holey moley, it is an epidemic that leaves H1N1 looking like a featherweight at the heavy weight championship.
I've thought a great deal about this all week. And I have watched the people I spend a lot of time with. I don't like what I am learning about myself. This isn't to shift responsibility for my choices to another's shoulders. Certainly not. I am over 21 and certainly been around the block more than once, even if it was in a Datsun. No. Actually I am thinking about how, at my mid-life (I hate that term) that I am not who I thought I would be at this point in my life.
Wouldn't it be nice to have the chance to do live youth again with better common sense? But, isn't it wonderful that we have the choice to make better decisions from today onward? And, knowing that I am known by the company I keep, isn't it refreshing to know that I can choose to be known in spite of the company I keep? As Pogo said: "We have met the enemy and it is us." The choice is ours; what will we do with it?
ROTFL... one of our first cars was a Datsun so I can say my trip around the block was in one. :)
ReplyDeleteI live with two melancholic men and sometimes it is easy to lose your hohoho with those two. Talk about crabby.
A big Amen, Matty!
ReplyDeleteI can much too easily and far too often become who I'm with. But bottom line, it is a choice isn't it?
Sandy
Matty
ReplyDeleteSounds like someone I know too! Maybe it's time for the old poltergeist and shoe trick!
Jane
Funny that you posted this because I was just telling my kids this last week. I know a couple of ladies that I can't be around, because all they do is talk about everyone! I will wind up saying something that I regret later so I know to stay away from them. I also have a couple of negative friends who every time I am around them every thing is gloom and doom and I"m left feeling depressed rather than up lifted. It has made me look at myself and ask if I"m always looking on the negative side too.
ReplyDeleteThat's something I've tried to teach my daughter - that you are known by the company you keep. But I like your comment that you can choose to be known in spite of the company you keep because sometimes we don't have too much of a choice. I've always told her to lead by example.
ReplyDeleteManuela