Studies show that the top five people you spend the most time with bleed on you. They probably don’t say it exactly like that, but bottom line, they leak out on you and you start to resemble them. That means if they are healthy, you are healthy. If they knock down bottles of chardonnay, your drinking may increase as well. If they are heavy, you will be more likely to fluff out, too.

You know, like married couples who start to look alike…or the lady who resembles her Yorkie. Or the kid who’s a bigot because his parents are bigots.

On the other hand, if your top five most frequents are health-focused with a passion for constantly moving towards optimal health, doesn’t  it follow you will be too? And, I’d like to extend that top five to include environment. Count work as a person. After all, you spend much of your waking time with those folks. (If that makes your stomach twitch, perhaps a new job may be in order.)

This point came home for me this weekend. I spent the past four days in Nashville, TN, at my first convention for Take Shape for Life, a company that created an 11-year old comprehensive program that moves people toward optimal health. I have been an independent certified health coach (www.jamieweil.net) with that company for the past 3 years and finally made it to the annual event.

These four days were nothing short of amazing. The venue was the Gaylord Opryland Hotel which is the largest, non-gaming hotel in the country. I shy away from ginormous hotels always (I have the navigational skills of a toddler), but this particular venue was a huge greenhouse under an atrium open to the sky and filled with the lushest flora you could imagine, reaching beyond the most luxurious hotels on the Big Island of Hawaii. Water features of all kinds were nestled in between the color-layered gardens masking hotel noise. The French doors from our room opened into this natural beauty which made it feel like we were in a private jungle rather than rats in a labyrinth. There were over 10 restaurants throughout the property, but each one felt intimate. Several times the chef came to our table to discuss vegetarian preparations, and the restaurants we dined in made Lean & Green meals, a key concept in the Take Shape for Life program. The company took care at provided meals to end in tofu-ricotta cheesecake with poached pear (delish) instead of a flourless chocolate cake slice laden with sugar.

The visionary company built health into each day, starting with group exercise classes for those who were inclined. (Only in Nashville can you do a Zumba class injected with a line dance and finished with yoga moves.) The schedule was not slammed out of balance so that everyone felt overwhelmed like most writing conferences I’ve attended, but rather was carefully organized with laser focused information to help arm the 3,000 health coaches with tools to help better serve their clients and fulfill the mission of visionary co-founder and author of the just-released NY Times Bestseller, Discover Your Optimal Health, Dr. Wayne Anderson. That vision is to “Get America Healthy” and back in position as the strongest, healthiest country in the world.

Spending the four days surrounded by friends who put health as a primary focus on an ongoing basis (great to see you Sue, Ken & Michelle!), an environment which makes growing and living healthy a snap, a company with a mission they believe in and WILL achieve, a like-minded travel mate who has learned to balance all that is important (thank you, Dr. Wendy!), and celebrating life with dancing, music, and learning drove it all home.

Figure out what you want to wear and why, then surround yourself with the people and environment that wear those clothes. In that way, you will be dressed in the reality you want for yourself and live the life that’s been waiting for you.