Jemma Spike

What I mean by this is look around at your close friends, look around at your relationships and really analyze, is this person a reflection of who I want to be?

Is this person good for me?

And am I good for them?

Do I like being around these kinds of people?

Do I like who I am with these kinds of people?

You've probably heard of the rule of five, which is that we are the five people we are closest to.

And so you have to choose carefully.

Like that's something that was very drilled into me when I was younger.

Psychology says that's not entirely accurate.

It's more like 15 with a few core relationships impacting us the most, like a partner or a best friend.

But this rule of five does strike at a core human fact.

You become who you surround yourself with.

So if your friends...

I know it's going to sound harsh, but if your friends do not inspire you, if your friends do not make you want to be better, if your friends do not make a big deal about you, do not make you feel great about yourself, do not push you to be better, like you are missing out.

out on one of the easiest ways to make your life better, which is to have great friends.

And maybe that hesitation and that doubt around your friendships is pushing you to find some better people.

There was this amazing study that was published in 2024 titled, I think, Emotion Contagion and Psychological Synchrony or something.

And in the study, it looked at a number of friendship dyads, so pairs of friends.

And what it found was that their emotional states were literally contagious to their other friend compared to strangers.

So like in this room, they would have one of the friends, one member of the friendship like watching a movie.