This is your year for setting boundaries, voicing your needs, and experiencing the joy of fulfilling connection.
This new year, it’s time to DO YOU, NEW – and a better YOU requires evaluating the relationships in your life. Which ones are bringing you joy and fulfilling connection? Which ones are preventing you from further growth
When it comes to goal-setting, many of us choose to focus our attention on physical health, career, or personal growth. What we often forget is that our relationships are an integral piece of our success in any of these areas. The people in our lives can support our growth, motivating us to work harder and make positive choices. But the people in our lives can also potentially hinder us from achieving the life we want.
There are many reasons we stay in relationship with people who don’t necessarily benefit us, nourish us, or mutually respect us:
- Loyalty (you’ve known them for a long time)
- Guilt (they “need” you)
- Fear (of missing out or losing connection)
- Convenience
- Co-dependency
The people we spend time with effect us in ways we don’t always realize in the moment. If we are spending time and energy on friends, family members, or romantic partners that do not bring us energy and fulfillment, we are often unable to give enough energy to the things that matter most to us: our personal growth, our physical health, our career, and the relationships that are most important to us.
When we begin to evaluate the people we choose to give energy to, and make changes from a place of well-being, we free up space and time for more positive and fulfilling connections.
The Power of Relationships
In this episode of Cup of Joy, special guest Amber Harris gives us the motivation we need to really start evaluating the relationships we are choosing to prioritize in our lives.
Here are some prompts to help you evaluate and make changes to the relationships in your life:
- What do you need out of the relationships in your life? (This will differ based on whether the relationship is family, friend, or romantic partner):
- Affection
- Acceptance
- Autonomy
- Empathy
- Trust
- Validation
- Prioritization
2. How is your relational well-being?
3. What relationships currently bring you energy? Which ones do you think are hindering your growth?
4. Who is in your “inner circle?”
5. How does your answer to the above questions impact and intersect with your professional, physical, and personal well-being?
6. How does your relational well-being impact the level of uncertainty, stress, or burnout in your life?
7. What’s one thing that stood out to you in this conversation, or your reflections on this topic in general?
8. What’s one thing you want to focus on related to this topic or your relational well-being as a whole?