Influences

One thing that I have been overly contemplating over these last couple of days is influences. I've noticed that everything we do influences someone around us to make a change, small or large, good or bad. I don't think that we as young people realize how much we affect those around us. As we're growing up and trying to discover who we want to become and what will take us there, we try to surround ourselves with others who want the same things as us so that hopefully we will build each other up (or break each other down, depending.) so that we can reach our goals, whatever they may be. But some outside force, person, movie, song, book, anything really can alter a person's view on life and what they want. Which scares me a little bit, because anyone can be drastically changed by one person. And though we'd like to say that these people change us for the better, they usually don't. Which scares me even more.
As I have watched friendships form and crumble, I notice a strange consistency: when friends are fighting, it's usually over something that one of the friends did or said. That's obvious. But the friend who did the thing that hurt the other person won't accept what they did wrong and as the friendship ends, the one who did nothing wrong moves on to bigger and better things. But the one who wouldn't accept what they did wrong and apologize moves on to friends who aren't as good as influences as the old ones. I want to know what makes us do that; move onto friends and relationships that alter what we do in a bad way. As humans we want to be accepted obviously, but we also want to stand out. So I guess we rebel and feel that that is the only way we can be different.

I'm really animate about this topic right now, so this post is going to be really long. I apologize.

I hope that I am a good influence on my friends. But even if I'm not perfect, I can still notice when there's someone in their lives that is causing them to do things they wouldn't normally do. And I work pretty hard to make sure I don't do anything that would pull my friends down, I always try (TRY) to build them up. I've noticed though that if I take them one step in the right direction a bad influence takes them three steps back and I have to work at it again just to bring them back to where they were. I've also seen times when one person's decision, only slightly involving another person causes that person to completely alter their life and their morals because of their one decision.
And the last thing I wanted to talk about was keeping our guard up. These bad things sneak into our lives so easily and quickly we don't even know what hit us. It honestly starts with something so small, but the poison that we allow in our lives can quickly multiply so that the one small thing that was okay causes another small thing to be okay and it just keeps going from there until you're lost.
So basically, don't listen to the old saying "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer". Try this one instead, "Keep all the bad stuff, yuckiness, and poison very far away so it can't touch you, and keep your good friends and influences closer, much, much closer."
Incredibly Tired-ly,
Rachel

Choices, Making, and Not Making.

Today I contemplated choices and the affect they have on people when you make them/ don't make them. As I say quite often when people want a quote on life, "Life is about choices. True happiness comes when we realize that good choices bring joy and bad choices bring sorrow." What brought this around was a lesson today on service and how random acts of service can really change a person's day. And how when we see an opportunity to serve, and don't take it, we can really change their lives in a not very progressive way.
I realized today that the choices we make always affect somebody. Sometimes directly, and sometimes not. But we are never the only ones affected by the choices that we make. But sometimes it's not what we choose to do, but what we choose not to do. For example, the little old lady crossing the street with groceries. She's obviously struggling and it's much too easy to ignore her and go on with your day, but what if you didn't? What if you pulled over, gave her a ride and helped her to her door? You could change her entire day, week, month, or entire outlook on life and people. What seems so small to us can make a life changing difference in somebody else's life. All we have to do is take the initiative and do what we know is right.
Speaking of right choices. I've seen lives that have been affected by one choice. Like a family member who decided to give into peer pressure and destroy his life with drugs. He would've been a very successful, wonderful man if he didn't make that one choice. It's horrible, isn't it? But I've also seen choices that just have amazing domino affects. Like my grandfather's choice to move to Bountiful, UT caused my mother to meet my father and things fell in place from there. But also there are choices that we continuously make. Like upholding moral standards of all kinds. It's not an easy thing to do, but boy am I glad I do it. Because by making these constant choices, I feel like I'm always in the right place at the right time. I feel like I'm deserving of the many things that I have. And I know that my life will be better in the future because of the habits I'm building and the way I'm living now.
I've noticed that when it comes to other people's choices, I get very scared and protective. Because I feel I know what's right (not to sound like a know it all or anything like that) and when they choose the opposite of that I sit back and bite my fingernails afraid of what's going to happen next. Because people's choices can affect their moods and personalities and their entire futures. And as I mentioned previously, in Rachel World, everybody does what they should. And so to close, make good choices, because you don't want to shatter the naive picture that I have of life. That'll be a very sad day indeed when it happens.
Determinately,
Rachel