Toxic friends
Friends are people who make you smile brighter, laugh louder and live better. Fake friends are people who force you to fake your personality, hobbies and interests in order to be friends to them and in most cases when they find out the real you ,they cut ties with you. Toxic friends are people who drain the life out of you. They often portray themselves as amazing people but they will always use you for their own gain. Finding friends isn't easy. Sometimes we get lonely and become friends with people we don't know and it ends up making life harder for us.
Traits of toxic friends
1.Manipulative
You probably saw this one coming. Toxic friends are manipulative and will always make you question whether you are crazy or too sensitive. They will do anything for their gain and often cry or make a tantrum when you don\'t do things their way.
2.Downplay your feelings
They always talk about their problems and when its your turn they interrupt you. You will sit down for hours listening to their problems but they never ask about you. They will make fun of your situation and laugh it off when it upsets you. .They regularly insult you and never like having serious conversations. Your feelings do not matter to them
3.Make you feel insecure and anxious
When you spend time with your friends, you should feel secure and safe. However toxic friends make you second guess every word you tell them for fear of upsetting them. Every time you meet up you feel drained and anxious and unnerved. It is like walking on eggshells.
4. Compare you to other people
We all have different backgrounds ,interests and hobbies, from music ,to fashion or food we eat. That should never be an excuse to compare you with another person. Toxic friends always compare you with someone else e.g. your body size, fashion sense or music taste. They do it jokingly but they know it will affect you and make you change according to what they want.
5.Trash talking
If they sit with you and talk trash about other people, then they talk about you too. They are people who do not mind spending a whole afternoon on social media just to troll people on the internet for fun. They put down other people either due to competitiveness or jealousy.
6.You know little about them
They always know your personal details like birthday, hobbies, your lovers, your insecurities, they know what you are up to and how you are feeling. However most times you know nothing about them and when you ask they always change the subject and brush it off. They simply do not want to share their personal details with you.
7.Sorry not sorry
They apologize without meaning it. They do it with haste just to brush off the subject and feel like they did the right thing. They follow up their apologies with excuses and make you feel like a bad person for asking them to apologize.
8.Jealous of your friendships
They never want you to hang out with your other friends. They would rather fake a sickness so that you can stay indoors nursing them than allow you to go out. They claim that you are betraying them when you see other friends.
9.They keep score
They pile up all the wrong things you have done to them so that they can use it against you every time you do something wrong. They always guilt trip and make you apologize for the smallest mistakes.
Once you discover these signs in your friend it is always good to tell them about what you think no matter how close you are .They may agree with you and decide to change for the better .If they refuse to change it is better to change friends and make healthy friendships with people who will respect you and appreciate your value.\r\nIt is always advised to take some time off and cut ties with toxic friends, hangout with your other friends and family, forgive yourself ,heal and create a support system for yourself.
Are you a good friend or a toxic friend?