Few days ago, I was reading about a story of crabs confined in a bucket. Individually, the crabs could easily escape from the bucket, but instead they pulled each other down which prevented all of them from escaping.

This reminded me of the people who under the garb of friends and relatives pull us down in our life. A chat or a meeting with them leave us drained and add so much of stress in our life. They suck the life out of us. These are the  Toxic people.

• These are the people who are constantly complaining about everything.
• Their compliments somehow also take you a step down.
• They are fiercely competitive and are always trying to one up you.
• They are judgmental.
• Giving unsolicited advice is their birth right.
• They can make you feel bad about anything.
• They gossip with you and then about you with others.
• They have this I-Me-Myself syndrome.
• They often tell lies and bend the truth about anything and everything.
• They believe that they have been wronged by the universe and wallow in self pity.
• They are manipulative and practice ‘divide and rule’ with everyone around them.

I sometimes wonder if they are our friends or enemies? Of course, they are not out rightly toxic, as they are subtly draining you and dragging you down. The truth is that all these unhealthy relationships do add stress, anxiety, hurt and even guilt in our life. They rob us of our happiness and all this may turn us into a toxic person too. Yes, negativity is contagious.

Removing them from our life and staying away from their drama is the best solution but somehow it is not possible always. Limiting our interaction with toxic people is in our hands. And when we are with them, we should consciously not share our dreams or secrets with them. While we need people in our life, we certainly don’t need all of them. We need to let these emotionally toxic people go from our life, without feeling guilty.

We need to focus on taking care of ourselves. We deserve to surround ourselves with people who accept us unconditionally, support us, encourage our ambitions and dreams, and make us feel happier simply being around them.

We deserve to be happy.

What are your experiences with toxic people?  How do you cope with their behavior?

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