By Susie Burrell

Our lives are filled with many people; people we work with, family, friends, associates, those who we pay to help us, our partners, children, friends of friends and people we studied with. Then there are people who live next door, and people who we see periodically at the supermarket or petrol station and the people we used to date. If you work with clients as well that means that there are a whole lot more people who you are in contact with every day – which means, all in all, a whole lot of people.

One way people can be grouped in life is according to their energy levels, or described in another way if they tend to be optimistic or pessimistic in their outlook. As we know that energy systems transfer, such a description can explain the reason why some people make us feel good, and others not so good. High-energy people tend to leave you feeling positive and enthusiastic about life, while the lower energy, more pessimistic individuals tend to leave you feeling tired and in a lower mood state than you started with.

While we cannot always control the people we have contact with on a daily basis in our professional lives, we can control the ones we have contact with in our private time. To maintain optimal mood, it is absolutely imperative that you learn to become fussy about who you spend your time with. While social circles may be large and growing, in busy lifestyles it really does become matter of quality over quantity when interacting with people to ensure that your energy levels are not in a constant state of drain because you have given too much to others. While this may mean being strict with your social calendar, the only person who will benefit will be you, and those who are most important in your life as they in turn get to spent more much coveted time with you, when you are functioning at your best.