A wise person once said, “show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are.” This adage has always intrigued me because what its saying is, “who you choose to associate with, shows your true nature more than it does theirs.”
Anyone who has ever begun the journey to be more positive knows that spending time with negative or toxic people is not only draining, but also detrimental to our happiness — if people are always bringing us down, how can we ever hope to be more positive and optimistic?
Over the years I’ve read many iterations of “_______ types of people you should avoid.” We’ve pulled some of those suggestions to create this list of “10 types of people you may really want to avoid”:
· The liar: if they lie to their friends, they lie to everyone and this makes trust almost impossible.
· The constant complainer: they often suck the life out of a room, which can make friendship difficult to maintain.
· The boaster: these people have a pathological need to always outdo everyone…including their closest friends.
· The gossip: if they talk to you about other people, they’re talking to other people about you.
· The user: the typical fair weather friend, they only show up when they want something.
· The manipulator: they’re the user, complainer and envier all wrapped up in one.
· The narcissist: it will never be about you.
· The envier: jealousy is toxic and this friend probably will never celebrate your successes.
· The enabler: friends encourage your best self…enablers do the opposite.
· The criticizer: friends support and encourage — a friend who always criticizes is no friend.
Friends are a blessing and hopefully you don’t have anyone in your life like the ones in the list above. But positivity and living a thriving life is so important, so we do need to choose our friends wisely. And doing so means taking a good look at who we’re associating with and deciding if it’s a mutually beneficial relationship. If it isn’t and we’re feeling their toxic negativity spill into our life, it may be time to find new friends and associates.
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