Choosing inspiration (aka. who you have lunch with matters)

Yesterday, I got to have lunch with Edna-the-Savvy.  She is smart. She is driven. And because she is on a course of improvement and learning, she is highly inspirational.

I love leaving our lunches because I always feel energized and have a list of things to look up and explore.

Here is the thing...who we have lunch with matters.  

If we are surrounded by people who mock and complain or brag about their latest conquests, we will remain stuck.  But when we have lunch with people who care about themselves and impacting the world around them, amazing things can happen simply through a conversation.

The topic of the conversation doesn't even matter. Sometimes it is about the big ideas. Other times about the daily. And sometimes we can bring a challenge to the table so that by saying the issues out loud we can get to understanding by talking it through.  The point of this isn't the topic.  It is the who.

Surrounding yourself with people who are moving forward moves you forward.

It takes you from fishbowl to the sea.

I feel very blessed by the great variety of forward-moving people I get to spend time with.  I've met them through my professional organizations (including Dara and Shannah who I've also gotten to have lunch with this week), through my office, through church, through yoga... If you find yourself in a stagnant fishbowl, you have to make the choice to change venue. Yes...some things are fixed.  Family, sometimes workplace...but there are ways you can choose to bring new people into your life.  (Edna met many of her inspirational people through her local gym and she chooses to bring in new ideas through the media she chooses.)

Do it.  Bring fresh water into your fishbowl. It is worth the risk.