7 Signs That You Are Dealing With a Toxic Friend
Since the early days of human civilization, the wisest amongst us had been all aware of our own social nature. Aristotle said, "Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual."
The words of Aristotle have stood the tests of time, even though we are now conscious of who we are as individuals instead of just other members of our tribe or society.
However, and as much as we are heading for more individualism as people's main moral code nowadays, we are still in need of real, dear, genuine, faithful and sincere friends in order for us to lead a healthy and mentally balanced life.
And in order to attract the right people into your life, you need to repel the wrong ones because toxic relationships, oftentimes, elicit substantial emotional harm.
Here are 7 signs that you are dealing with a toxic friend:
However, and as much as we are heading for more individualism as people's main moral code nowadays, we are still in need of real, dear, genuine, faithful and sincere friends in order for us to lead a healthy and mentally balanced life.
- Selfishness: your friend is all about getting as much as possible, while giving as little as possible when it comes to compromises within the relationship. For him, it's all about exploiting the other, how much to get out of him, and never about building a long lasting relationship based on mutual respect and trust. A healthy dose of egoism is fine, but too much of it and things will be heading south really fast.
- He/She is always right: this is a great indicator that you are indeed within the boundaries of a toxic relationship. No matter what you do or how hard you try, they will always position themselves as victims who are innocent of any wrongdoing.
- They talk bad about others behind their backs: often resulting from inferiority complexes, they can't help it but keep on mentioning other people's flaws and mistakes.
- They rise up by putting people down: this is the kicker; each time you tell them about your new projects, ideas and progress, or someone new you are dating they always immediately put you down by reinforcing the negativity goggles within you. They keep reminding you of your past mistakes, experience those parts you hate the most.
- Manipulative: toxic friends consider manipulating others as the climax of their joy. They see the world consisting of them and the rest; the masses always looking for ways to control them. So don't listen to their advice if you have any doubt about their intentions.
- Jealousy: this resembles egoism in some sort, thus a healthy dose that encourages genuine competitiveness is alright. But, keep an eye, each time you mention a new achievement to your friend and notice the nature of his/her reaction. If your friend immediately shifts back the conversation to be all about him/her, then there you have it a clear case of jealousy.
- Psychopathy: there is a strong correlation between being a psychopath and being a toxic friend. Stay away from psychopaths as they are often much more dangerous than you think.
There you are. Equipped with the above seven signals, you will be more aware of each one of them when it's triggered frequently in a friendship and therefore giving you the chance to spot toxic friends early on.