This statement is not always true, but in many cases it is true. Some of the reasons why it can be a poor choice to listen to your friends or family are:
1- they may have different desires or dreams than you,
2- they may want to take a different path than you want to take,
3- they may know very little about how to help you reach your goals,
4- they may think little of themselves and feel you should think the same about yourself,
5- they may doubt your ability to succeed because of what they think of you or know about your past or present,
6- or they may secretly be jealous of your dreams and your belief in yourself (this is a big one).
Also be careful listening to family and friends who are not hard workers or have not accomplished much in their own lives. The old saying “you should listen to me because I’m your family or because I’m your friend“ should only go so far. It is usually safer to trust a person with results than a person with only words.
A big mistake adult children can make is being so enmeshed with their parents that they duplicate their parents’ failures, instead of learning from those failures (this can also happen with friends).
Many times our emotional attachments to those we love can cloud our objective reasoning and decision-making. We need to love others with limits. Jesus knew this and therefore gave us parameters for loving our family in relation to loving God. see Luke 14:26-27 ampc
Remember someone can truly love you and still be unable to help you reach your goals. Not following someone’s poor advice does not mean you don’t love them. It means you are not allowing your emotions to dictate your decisions, and that’s smart.
-Joshua S. Morris
Comments