In either case, the situation starts off innocent enough; almost like two people working together in a mutually beneficial way. But as the bad habit grows larger and more entrenched in our life, it starts to squeeze. It drains us of our energy. It gains momentum and strength as we are left increasingly more weak. Eventually we are left hollow inside and we collapse or give up, the weight being too great to bear in our weakened condition.
How do we avoid falling like the mighty tree? We start by taking an honest inventory of our friends, associates and our personal habits. If there is someone or something that we feel is leaching off of us, robbing us of our happiness and success, we need to decide to remove it from our life immediately. Life is too short and happiness too precious to allow any of it to be wasted on these relationships. Remove the Strangling Roots from around you and you will be amazed at how much more energy you have to focus on the important things.