Toxic Friends: Signs to Cut Them From Your Life

Table of Contents Show

We had a list of people we would hang out with and play with when we were kids. Eventually, our interests changed, and we decided to hang out with different kids. But for some reason, some friends are hard to shake off. Toxic Friends who are unhealthy to our happiness levels.

Friends who are always angry, always complaining, or never happy for you. There may be many reasons why these friends are so toxic, but the bottom line is the same: they’re not good for your mental health.

Whether it’s due to competitiveness, jealousy, or simply being mean-spirited, here are some ways to identify if you have toxic friends and how to deal with them accordingly.

Toxic friends for your mental health

Some friends are toxic to our happiness levels. These are the friends who are always angry, complaining, or never happy for you. They may be competitive, jealous, or simply mean-spirited.

Warning signs you have a toxic friendship.

There is no support from your friends.
There is constant conflict.
It drains you physically.
There is no self-expression.
It is an abusive friendship.
Your friend talks about other people behind your back.
Everything revolves around them.
There is drama all the time.

There are many reasons why these friends are toxic, but the bottom line is the same: they’re not good for your mental health.

Toxic Friends and Friendship

Friendship is about a mutual agreement. It’s about shared values and interests, the ability to make each other laugh, share life’s ups and downs, and provide comfort when needed.

When friends are toxic, they interrupt our ability to enjoy friendship. For example, they might stop us from making new friends because they want all of your attention on them. That’s not friendship, though.

Toxic friends will often put you down or make you feel bad about yourself in an attempt to exert control over you or dominate the relationship. They might try to tear you down so that you don’t give up on them. Toxic friends are not worth it!

What’s the root of their toxicity?

Often, it is hard to tell when a friend is toxic, but many people know when their friends are being cruel or competitive. A sign that your friend may be harmful is when they negatively talk about you, either in person or on social media.

Things they say about you in person
Things they post on social media
The way they treat you

Another sign of toxic behavior is when your friend always needs help. They want to borrow money but never repay it. They want to come over for dinner and never offer to cook anything. You are expected to do everything for them and don’t seem grateful for the things you do for them. This is not how good friendships work.

How to deal with a toxic friend

If you have a toxic friend, the best way to deal with them is to distance yourself from them. This does not mean you have to get rid of them completely, but it will be good if they are no longer in your day-to-day life.

This can be difficult because you want to help this person out and feel bad for them. But the truth is that you need to distance yourself because this person is just bringing negativity into your life. It’s hard to know this person for so long and have grown up together.

However, it would be best if you didn’t let their toxicity disrupt your peace of mind.

If it gets awful, there are ways to get this kind of person out of your life without feeling guilty or bad about it. First, you should create some boundaries with the individual for them not to take advantage of you or make other demands on your time. If they cross these boundaries again, then end the relationship altogether.

Conclusion

Friendships are critical to the development and maintenance of our mental health. Friends can be a source of happiness and support, but they can also bring significant risk and harm.

To stay healthy and keep friendships healthy, we need to know how to identify and deal with toxic friends. Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all formula for these relationships, but we can take steps to protect ourselves and our friendships from harm.