Nowadays, it’s easy to get caught up with the “wrong crowd." A lot of people hang out with others because they’re fun to be around, which is great. It’s always a good thing to hang out with people who you can have a good time with. However, it’s time to think. Are these “friends" there for you during your lowest points? Are these “friends" encouraging you to do the best you can do? Are these “friends" encouraging you to skip school and studying for a party? Are these “friends" supporting your dreams and staying there for you every step of the way?

The people you hang out with resemble who you are. If your friends are skipping school, you’ll eventually feel pressured to skip school as well. It’s important to surround yourself with people who motivate you and genuinely want you to succeed. If your friends don’t care about your accomplishments or aren’t happy when you succeed at something, then maybe it’s about time for you to rethink who your true friends are.

If you hang out with people who don’t care about succeeding and just lounge around at home doing nothing, you will eventually pick up that habit. If you hang out with people who like to get in trouble and don’t care about the consequences, eventually you will get in trouble with the law and it will affect your future.

You have to take your future seriously, and that begins with surrounding yourself with the right people. Surround yourself with people who set goals for themselves. You should help your friends accomplish their goals, and you should maintain close friends who want to help you accomplish yours. When you surround yourself with the right people, it’ll help you to stay motivated. It’ll make you want to do better and want to succeed. Hanging out with people who are determined will motivate you to want a better, more successful life.

You need to step up and reevaluate who you have in your life. You should pay close attention to who is there during your times of need and who is not. Step up and figure out who would be there for you when you’re feeling down and who’s willing to help you get to the top. But also keep in mind, you need to want to do the same for your friends as well.

Figure out who’ll be there for you, and once you figure out who your friends are, you will change for the better. So stop right now and think, “do any of my friends right now care if I were to fail? Do they want me to succeed? Will they help me to accomplish my goals? Will they be happy for me when I succeed in something?" It’s important to make the change now, rather than later.