Yes, even friends can be toxic. People who are toxic, people, who are not good for your mental health, should be kept away. Sometimes we are in company of people who are toxic and we do not realise it because the common notion is that friendships cannot be toxic while very little do we know that friendship is just a form of relationship and it can be toxic.
What are toxic friend or what is a friendship?
You need to recognise a toxic friend. Here are some characteristics that they exhibit:
- Although the prime job of friends is to humiliate you in front of others but a toxic friend will be-little you in front of other people. For no apparent reason they will not only humiliate you but will also try to make you look incompetent amongst people.
- They criticise you always. No matter what do or say, they will criticise.
- No matter what the situation is, they seem to lack empathy.
- They are not good secret keepers.
- The world revolves around them. You will find them very self-cantered.
Walking out of a relationship is easy but walking out of a friendship is not that simple. The toxic person that you are with will try and convince you. If you too are stuck in a toxic friendship, here are few simple tips to move on from toxic friends.
Acknowledgement
First of all, you need to accept the fact that you are indeed in company of a toxic person. Many a time the biggest mistake that we make is not realising that our friends can be toxic too. If they are not helping you grow, on the contrary they seem to impede your personal growth and your over-all welfare, you need to walk out.
Prepare yourself to confront
When you are friends with someone toxic, know that they won’t let you go easily. They will have a valid justification for everything, so you will have to prepare yourself for them. They will try their best to manipulate you; they will trick you into thinking that you are the one at fault. You will have to think a lot before saying anything to them.
Be direct
Say whatever you wish to say, directly to their faces. It will be nasty because there will be a lot of blame game but you will have to go through it, you don’t have a choice.
Try and curb contact
Meet them less, talk to them less and try to curb all the contacts. This is the only way of moving on. Just stay away from them, limited communication is the key.
