I only hang out with people that I enjoy.

Growing up I felt obliged to be nice to people no matter if I actually wanted to be around them or not.

It wasn’t even a question I would ask myself.

There is hierarchy and you gotta respect the people older than you, the people with more education or your bosses.

If you like it or not.

After living through some painful years being around people who kept shouting at me and telling me that I’m not good enough, I changed the rules:

I don’t stay around people I don’t enjoy.

When I don’t follow this principle, I like myself less.

I feel trapped, I feel like a victim and throw an internal pity-party.

I don’t like myself in this state because I see myself as powerless.

These days I am rarely surrounded by people that drain my energy.

I can’t even think of a recent example.

You could say I’m lucky. And that you’re not that lucky because your boss drives you crazy.

I might be lucky.

And I make sure that I tell my luck where to show up.

I made a decision that I am to be treated well.

So I walk out of the room or have a serious conversation when their behaviour is not acceptable.

This is how I signal to my luck which kind of people I want to have around me.

Which principle do you live by? Let me learn from you.