"Say you have to do something that isn’t your favorite thing in the world to do. Then say you have to do it with people who are not fun to be around, who are negative, selfish, and basically drag you down.
Now say you have to do that same something that isn’t your favorite in the world to do, but this time say you get to do it with people who are a total blast to hang out with, who are upbeat and positive, generous and kind, and who lift you up anytime they are around.
Imagine how you feel in both those situations. In both cases the task needing to be done isn’t something you want to do. But when you get to do that with people who are a joy to be around they can make anything a joyful and fun experience.
I remember years ago when I was still a single mom a guy friend asked me and my kids to go on a hike with him. Now let me start by stating that I HATE hiking! Like really hate it. But being single at the time and not wanting the guy to know to what extent I hated hiking, I said I would go. What the guy didn’t tell me was that we would be hiking up a massive mountain in the canyons and that it would be a really steep climb up sheer rock cliffs. When we got to the hike it was clear that I was not keeping up. I was hot and miserable and I just wanted the hike to end. My date and my son climbed ahead of us a ways and my daughter, who was only about 10 at the time stayed back with me to bring up the rear. She could tell I was miserable on the hike and frankly she was too back then. But rather than complain about how awful it was she decided to turn the hike into a game. She started saying that we should pretend we were on the escalator at Nordstroms on our way to the biggest sale of the entire year. She and I began to laugh and make up all kinds of stories to tell ourselves to make the climb into something fun and silly, taking our focus off how miserable we actually were. When the day was over she and I laughed like crazy about our miserable day and how nuts we had been coming up with our silly stories to get through it. Now 7 years later she and I still laugh about our miserable hike and the fun that we had.
It was a miserable activity, but I was doing it with someone who was a fabulous person to be hanging out with and that made it extraordinary for me. It taught me a really great principle about life. I learned that I could get through anything if I was surrounded with the right people. Life is always going to have its hard challenges but when you can go through it surrounded with amazing people who make you laugh and be silly and who lift your spirits up, it can turn even the hardest times into your very best memories. Surrounding yourself with good people makes all the difference in life." Amy
I absolutely love to hang out with my friend Jill Kimball. She is one of the kindest sweetest women I have ever known. I go visiting teaching with her and she takes me shopping when I need to go since I usually don't have a car. She goes all over town all day running errands and people on the streets come to her to sell things because they know she will buy something. She even knows them by name and they know her and her family by name too. Today we went out shopping for groceries and as ordinary of a thing as that is it became extraordinary simply because I did that tedious task with a good friend. Oh how I will miss Jill when she moves to Mexico this Summer.
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