Welcome to Erebus Growing, a weekly email where I share little snippets of life to help you change and grow into your highest life.

I’m on vacation from the 9-5 for the next two weeks and I could not be more excited.

I have some hours at the part-time, but the vast majority of my days, given the rush that January through May will bring with the job search, will be spent relaxing and enjoying life here.

Plus, we have the holiday season!

This week, I’m going to be looking into some positions from a search firm that I’ve connected to to help ease the process as I move to my next position.

Onward to a wonderful and relaxing week!

👨🏻‍💻 Meditation

Yesterday, I worked at the part-time for a ten-hour shift. The thing I was looking forward to was seeing my one co-worker, Nathan.

I walked around the store for 30 minutes trying to find him before checking the call log to see if he had called out.

He found me and I was genuinely thrilled to see him. We became good friends after I started at the part-time in June.

We were able to work together for an hour and a half before he clocked out for the day.

But in a twist that I didn’t expect, we exchanged phone numbers at his suggestion so that we wouldn’t need to wait so long to be able to talk again.

Life is not meant to be lived in isolation.

It is important to spend time with people and by yourself.

Time alone is critical to your growth and development, but life is meant to be lived and experienced within the company of others.

After all, it’s only through our relationships with others that we can fully explore some parts of ourselves.

This is what makes selecting your circle of people so important.

Do the people you surround yourself with celebrate you?

Do they ground you and keep you humble?

Do they speak well of you when you’re not around?

Do they defend you when you’re unaware?

Relationships are important to your highest life.

The greatest challenge for me is cultivating relationships with others.

I am a more solitude-oriented person and often have to work harder to connect with others.

Some relationships just click and provide both people involved with immense satisfaction.

Others will require more work and focus to nurture and develop.

But they all will form a part of your life.

So, you must be careful, selective, and picky about who you decide to welcome.

Your relationships will influence you and you will influence them.

An important understanding is that those relationships you cultivate will influence you.

You’ll act differently, think differently, and exist differently based on your relationships.

In 2010, I made friends with another student at my university who would become a roommate the following year. To say he was fit and healthy would be an understatement. (He did one-armed pullups using a dishtowel to improve his grip strength.)

But just being friends with and spending time together with him changed how I thought about physical exercise.

That was the beginning of my first journey to healthiness.

But when I moved to Oneonta and started at my current 9-5, that changed.

I didn’t have anyone who had “physical health” on their mind which showed.

I’ve had ups and downs but have, in the over ten years since, built a healthier relationship with my body.

Choose your relationships with intention because they will define your life.

📚 Inspiration and Resources
Every week we all consume content and I share my favorites here.

Learning.
I’ve talked about Duolingo before, but I wanted to tout it again as I hit 150 consecutive days of at least one lesson today! I’ve been taking Spanish and I’ve enjoyed the entire process. I’m finding that I am absorbing the language in ways I never expected with how they teach. Some of the most surprising moments for me? When I realize that my subconscious knows what the word in Spanish is even if my conscious mind doesn’t think I do. Give the green owl a try here.

📓 Journaling Prompt
Journaling is one of the most important things to do when exploring our own lives. A new prompt for you to use this week is below.

Do you consider who you let into your life and how far?

Until next time, I wish you enough and send you off with love and a sense of urgency in your life.