Are you surrounding yourself with saboteurs? By Odilia Rivera-Santos

A couple of days ago, I taught a health literacy workshop for a group of retirees. 

I challenged them to politely disengage from negative people who offer no constructive criticism. The people who say 'that's not going to work,' 'that doesn't look good' 'your idea makes no sense'

These are people who criticize everything and they never offer an alternative plan to yours; they take a hammer to your hopes, dreams and life like a rowdy group of teenagers in an abandoned house.

The critic is really a saboteur whose actions may be based in jealousy or misdirected love. They may also be people whose egos suffer from the slightest stumble in life and they can't bear to watch a friend take a big risk and possibly a big tumble if their ideas fail.

I challenged the group to create a community instead of surrounding themselves with the angry, disappointed or perpetually sullen. 

Retirement could offer at least that -- the opportunity to engage with people whose qualities we admire and want to emulate and whose presence brings a smile, not preparation for the defense.

Imagine the time you'd save without the stress of tapdancing for cruel judges, even if unintentionally crude.

What would happen if you left insecure people behind to do what they need to do? You might get a lot more done.

Word?

I did a Spring cleaning of my on and offline life and as my circle of friends got smaller, my life got a lot bigger. The naysayers have gone to nay elsewhere and the angry will surely find their kind in our great city where people will go to court for 5 years over an uneven sidewalk.