What do you do when you have toxic people in your life?
How to deal with toxic people
11/1/18
By: Jennifer Seip, LMFT
Who are toxic people?
I know what you’re thinking, this post was made for you! We all have that one person, (or two or three) in our lives who we consider to be TOXIC! But what should you do about them? Usually a toxic person isn’t just someone on the street who we can ignore easily. They are often, friends or family members whom we love and care for. Today I’m going to go over who toxic people are, so you can identify them, and what to do about them!
Qualities of a toxic person
Alright, before I talk about exactly what to do about toxic people I’m just going to list a couple of qualities that they might have.
- They don’t make you feel good.
- They like to one up or one down you
- Toxic people talk about you behind your back
- They don’t validate you and/or make you feel like you’re stupid.
What to do about toxic people
Alright, now that I went over a few qualities of toxic people, I’m going to tell you exactly what you should be doing
about it.
First, you can reach out and talk to them about what’s hurting you.
If that doesn’t work then try setting boundaries or implementing a “contingency plan.”
Lastly you can choose to not have them in your life.
- This last option is a tough decision (I know.) Make that choice only when you are completely confident that that’s what you want to do. If it’s not, keep trying numbers one and two, or reach out to a therapist to talk about more options.
- You can also read more about Is Relational Happiness Reality Minus Expectations?
For more on this watch the video above!
Good luck!
Jen
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