Dealing With Toxic People

By Allison Johnson
Blog Content Contributor

I’m sure everyone has that one person in their life who is not very pleasant to be around. This person can be mentally draining in many aspects. They can be negative when it comes to supporting your goals, being there for you, thinking they are better than you, or being completely lost when it comes to being a decent person.

We live in an age where hate is inevitable to escape. It’s on social media, the news, and we experience it with strangers throughout our lives. We’re taught to let go of toxic relationships to better ourselves. These people can be friends, significant others and even family. At first, we pick these people to be in our lives. When our relationships with them start to go downhill because they always have something negative to say, or treat you like an option, we decide it’s time to let them go.

Why is there such a stigma or why is it hard for people to do this? People aren’t good at taking advice that is good for them, so they put up with this awful person in their life for a long time. Keeping that person in your life will only allow them to keep putting bad energy into your heart and mind. What you allow is what will continue.

An example of negativity a person will bring to you is jealously. Have you ever conquered a goal or just received an opportunity that can only bring you blessings? I have. Turns out, just because someone is your friend of family, doesn’t mean they are happy for you. A person who is not supportive of you will laugh at your passion and simply not ever congratulate you for your achievements.

I cannot relate to not being happy for someone’s personal and career achievements, especially when it is something someone is passionate about. I believe God gives us innate talents and things to be passionate about in life, and those are our purposes for being on earth. So why mock someone for their passion? You might know someone who has a burning passion for playing a sport or music. If this is something they want to pursue, don’t hate them for it. If you are in the shoes of being ridiculed by someone for following your dreams, don’t put up with it. With hard work and faith, dreams come true. They most likely feel hateful towards you because you are doing something positive. Keep doing you, an idle mind isn’t a good thing so stay focused on doing great things for yourself!

There’s so many things people can do to you to make you feel down. They could use you for money, talk behind your back, and abuse you mentally and physically. You deserve happiness though. The form of negativity that bothers me the most is being talked to like I’m not a person. Whether you’re a people person or not, communication is inevitable, so become good at it, especially if you would like to, I don’t know, have a job someday.

Think about it this way, have you ever been in a bad mood because of some bad things happening in your life? Then a person tries to talk to you and you snap at them because you only have that negativity on your mind? Well normally, you would apologize and explain why your day went bad. I have come across people who do this to me daily though.

When a person talks to me like I’m not a human who deserves respect, I wonder about how they feel about themselves, or what the voice in their head sounds like. It should be positive and happy. So, think about the next time you approach a person to speak. Is your demeanor ugly? Are you mad for no reason? Don’t use the excuse that you’re just mean and you like being like that. This is beyond detrimental to relationships.

I hope you take the initiative to get rid of people in your lives that don’t spread happiness to the world. Life is too short to be anything but kind to others. I understand so much is going on in the world that we are not happy with, but we have so much to be thankful for at the end of the day. What the world needs right now more than ever is the human race being nice to each other, and spreading love. The media does the exact opposite of it, so let’s support and love our loved ones.

Featured illustration by Joseph Wallace.