Members of the Northwestern football team, of which the author is a member, are shown in the spring of 2021. The author believes having a group of honest, devoted friends is essential to becoming a better person.

By J.D. Eddy, Editorial Editor

Surround yourself with people who turn you into the best version of yourself. I am not implying that there is anything wrong with having individuals around you that make you happy. But surrounding yourself with individuals that motivate you to better physically, mentally and spiritually is necessary.

One quality I view as good would be honesty. We need to be around individuals who are not afraid to tell us how it is and who will be upfront with about everything.

These are the individuals we need in our lives to uplift us or show that they genuinely care about us. We may have other experiences with friends. But this is coming from my point of view.

I have had people in my life who acted like they cared about me. However, that was not the case. They lied, constantly did things without me and made plans behind my back so I wouldn’t know.

When you surround yourself with those types of people, you begin to spiral; it does not happen overnight, but you begin chasing their attention. Don’t do that. I have said before in these articles to know your worth. This is important for numerous reasons. Chasing people’s attention only leads to more letdowns. Instead of chasing, you need to find people who are there for you, not ones who leave you behind.

Members of the Northwestern football team, of which the author is a member, are shown in the spring of 2021. The author believes having a group of honest, devoted friends is essential to becoming a better person.

Being able to identify whether or not these will be lasting relationships is tough, but once you do, everything begins to clear up. Your mental state begins to improve.

You realize that it was not worth your time, energy or effort to have toxic individuals around. I am not saying to cut off everyone you consider to be toxic. Just know what you are worth and that you are important. Do not base your value off the people around you.

The individuals around you are the ones who show you your worth. They help keep up the relationship and promote your mental health. One of the things that shows me which people are healthy for me are the random texts I get from friends who are just checking up on me.

They’re not asking to hangout or go out on the weekends, but they are just making sure that I am alright. If you have friends like this now and have always had them, you are blessed. Someone or something has put these individuals in your life.

You may have had trials and tribulations, but these friends will help you work through these things with you instead of letting you handle all of this alone.

I constantly harp on mental, physical and spiritual health. This is just one of the many aspects of it that will help you be the best you can be. I have written many articles about being yourself, and I will continue to do so.

Mental health in our day and age is more important than ever with the presence of social media, false portrayals of relationships on TV and the state of the world. These things all affect your health and how you view relationships or what they should be.