It is important to surround yourself with positive influences. Your well-being can be affected by so many aspects of life; however, positive influences affect your well-being the most. Positive influences can come from a multitude of sources, such as family members, friends, teachers, and peers.

Andrena Phillips talks about the many effects of general positive influences, such as the improvement of mental health, motivation, and creativity. For example, she said, “Positive influences can also help us to build resilience and cope better with stress,” and that positive environments and role models help push out limits and help our inspiration.

A more specific aspect is positive parental influences and the way someone grows up. There are many statistics that talk about how people are affected throughout their childhood, and you often see people talking about the effects of harmful parenting, such as “low self-confidence, anxiety, depression, and trust issues.” While that is important to think about, it is also important to see and look at the way people thrive, are affected by positive parenting styles, and have positive role models in their lives. The article, “The Effect of Parenting and the Parent-Child Relationship on a Child’s Cognitive Development: A Literature Review,” from the National Library of Medicine talks about the many benefits positive parenting has on a child, like confidence, maturity, cognitive development, and a lower risk of mental illness like depression and social anxiety.

While you don’t have a lot of control over the kinds of influences in your home and in your family, many social situations bring so many new people and influences into your life that you do have some control over them. Things like school, work, and extracurricular activities let you meet new people with whom you can choose who you talk to and surround yourself. Friendships are known to have many benefits and have a positive influence on your life.

The Mayo Clinic goes further into the details of the positive effects friendship has, overall resulting in better health and well-being. They mention details like less isolation, companionship, an increase in happiness, belonging, and purpose, and helping you move past and cope with hard situations. Positive influences also reside in the workplace and are important considering how much time people spend working. Positive psychology shows the importance of having strong relationships at work, as they can lead to new knowledge, employee engagement, employee satisfaction, and a reduction in health risks. Overall, leading to a better work experience.

Also, many find role models elsewhere, like teachers, counselors, and trusted adults. The Gale Staff dives into the positive impact teachers have on students, like helping shape lives and learning things that are vital for someone’s future.

This is not something that everybody finds important, and they don’t think about the people they surround themselves with very seriously, which can lead to harmful effects for them, just as someone can be affected positively. This is a topic that individuals should think about throughout their lives, as something as simple as hanging around someone who helps them push a little further can lead to improvement in many areas of wellbeing and life.