A Heart Warming Quote About Eeyore and The Amazing Efforts of His Friends

“One awesome thing about Eeyore is that even though he is basically clinically depressed, he still gets invited to participate in adventures and shenanigans with all of his friends. What is amazing is that they never expect him to pretend to feel happy, they never leave him behind or ask him to change, they just show him love.”

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Beyond the Quote (116/365)

One of the more common thoughts being passed around in the self-improvement world is the idea that you are who you surround yourself with. If you surround yourself with people who gossip—you’ll become a person who gossips. If you surround yourself with people who workout all of the time—you’ll start to workout all of the time. If you surround yourself with “losers”—you’ll become a “loser.” You get the idea—birds of a feather flock together.

In the self-improvement world, when you surround yourself with people who are smarter, more talented, more disciplined, more experienced, and/or just more impressive in some way, you’ll be challenged to grow as a result of their example and influence. This, of course, makes perfect sense and is something that I encourage everybody to do myself. But, that’s not the end of the conversation.

It’s the other people in your life that I don’t think we talk about enough.

What about the people in your life who maybe don’t have much value to add in the self-improvement domain? The people who aren’t exactly within your circle, but are within your life who aren’t always in the best mood or maybe seem to be kind of depressed? The people who aren’t intentionally trying to bring down the mood, but sometimes do? What about them? Do you just cut them out because they’re not going to help you. Do you avoid them because you’re focused on doing bigger and better things?

Let’s look at this a little closer.

Let’s remember that our character is a reflection of how we treat ALL of the people in our lives—not just the ones we want to spend all of our time with. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression: If you want to really get to know someone’s character, watch how they treat the people who can’t do anything for them.

Don’t judge people based on how they treat people they admire, want to impress, want to undress, or want to get something from. Judge them based on how they treat the people who are in the exact opposite category—people they don’t admire, don’t notice, aren’t attracted to, and don’t want anything from. This is where a person’s true nature is revealed.

So, not only are we a product of who we surround ourselves with, but we are also a product of how we treat all of the people we are surrounded with. This is what the friends of Eeyore did so exceptionally well that made their relationship so special. They didn’t try to force him to change his underlying nature. They didn’t cut him out of their friend group. They didn’t make him feel pressured to smile and be happy. They just showed him love.

Have you ever been in a bad mood and been told by somebody to just cheer up? Have you ever felt low and had somebody tell you to talk to them when you felt better? Have you ever been pressured to be somebody you weren’t so that you could please the people you were with? In each of these cases, even if the intention might’ve been good, the execution falls short. There’s a palpable lack of understanding. I know I’ve felt this way before when I’ve been in similar situations. Maybe you can see that more clearly now, too.

What might be better? When somebody is in a bad mood, rather than telling them to cheer up, do something that might cheer them up. When somebody is feeling low, rather than telling them to reach out when they feel better, tell them to reach out whenever they need to talk—especially when they’re feeling low—and maybe invite them to do something anyway.

When with a group of people, rather than telling somebody to “act cool” or “put on a smile,” let them be who they are—and support them. This means trying to engage with them as part of the group, standing up for them if somebody is demeaning or rude, and letting them be who they are—without passing judgement.

Bottom line: Just show more love. Not just to a select few—but to the unselected ones off to the sides too. Be for them the person you wish you had in your life when you were at a low. This might make more of a difference than you might ever realize—both for them and for you. Good luck.

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