Seventeen contributing editor Demi Lovato talks about how much toxic friends can influence and define you—and why she's only surrounding herself with positive people now.

It’s really important to be aware of the people who you’re hanging out with—the people who you surround yourself with—when you’re at an age where you’re trying to figure out who you are. I think a lot of us subconsciously rely on our peers and our friends to tell us exactly who we are, because we really don’t know ourselves. So when we’re growing up, it’s a really tricky time, and we have to make sure that the people that we’re hanging out with are a positive influence on us.
We don’t realize it, but we do look to our friends for fashion advice, and to help make decisions that will affect our futures. It’s really important to remember that you are who your friends are, so if you’re hanging around a bad crowd, people will perceive you as part of that crowd.
The kinds of people that I’m surrounding myself with now are people who are beneficial not only to my recovery but also to the lifestyle that I want to have, which is peaceful and serene. I look for people who I can hang out with without relying on bad habits to have fun—people who I can go bowling with, or literally just watch TV and knit with, people who love me for me and don’t care if I’m tall or short, fat or thin. My friends today love me for me—they’re people who I can act like myself around.