Why You Must Weed Toxic People Out of Your Life

There’s a saying, “Your biggest fan is a stranger and your biggest hater is someone you know.” When it comes to toxic people, here’s a hard and fast rule - do NOT let them rent space in your head. Raise the rent and kick them out!

Truer words have never been spoken. The sad truth is that the most toxic people you meet will usually be your family members, friends or relatives. And there’s a reason for that, which we’ll get to in a minute. Generally, toxic people hate on others because they hate their lives or they’re hurt themselves. Hurt people hurt people.
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Different outlooks on life
If you’re trying to succeed in life, toxic people will initially offer words of support, but as you progress, they’ll start trying to drag you down. Their words will slowly become sarcastic, but will be passed off as harmless jokes.They may say that you’ve changed or that you’re proud or that you’re now too good for them. In other words, they want you to go back to the way you were.

Here’s the dilemma – you can’t achieve success and the better things in life without personal growth and often changing your mindset, your skillset, your habits, and your behaviors. You’ll need to become more determined, positive, disciplined and so on. You need to focus more on your personal goals, your financial goals, and your career goals - and less on distractions.

You’ve not become prouder or more aloof. You’ve just become more conscious of where you spend your time. You’re trying your hardest to become the best possible version of you which will ultimately attain the goals you desire – and these goals demand that you change.

But toxic people don’t get this.

Your success shines a spotlight on their failures and makes them feel bad. They take your success personally and want you to remain where you are. That’s the only way they can feel good in their own skin. And because it’s family and friends who knew who you were before you started your journey to your greatest self, is unfortunately why they are often the most toxic people in your life.
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You absolutely must weed out toxic people or their words will weigh you down.

They sap your energy
Toxic and negative people will sap your energy. They have a problem for every solution. They have 99 problems and it’s all them. When you try to reason or explain things to a toxic person, you’ll only end up wasting your energy and end up feeling drained in the process. It’s best to avoid them and let them stew in the muck and mire of their own mediocrity. You have more important work to do.

They will make you develop a negative mindset
A toxic person will put a wet blanket on your plans without a second thought. They’ll not see the promise and only see the problems. The more you speak to toxic people, the more you’ll question yourself and your ideas and dreams.

Fortune favors the bold. Toxic people are the opposite of bold and often live in fear. They’ll cause you to miss out on wonderful opportunities by trying to get you to be safe and secure. Of course, all of it will be done out of ‘love’ or ‘concern’ for your own safety.

The truth of the matter is that you can only discover new lands if you leave sight of the shore… and great things only come outside the comfort zone. Be positive and be brave.

They throw you off your momentum
Momentum is your best friend when it comes to achieving your goals. Once you get the ball rolling, you don’t want to stop. Toxic people, however, are usually going nowhere. So, when you come rolling by happily with your momentum, the first thing they’ll do is put the brakes on you.

They’ll do it either by passing a negative comment or a backhanded compliment. This one action is enough to throw most people off their momentum. Now you’re wondering if what you’re doing is even worth it. You may have had tons of compliments and small victories, but the one negative, unnecessary comment has you doubting yourself now.

Don’t panic. Just cast off all doubts and keep moving forward and further away from the toxic zombies that are trying to make you one of them.

Waste of time
You can’t gain anything by talking to a toxic person. They are a never-ending muddy fountain of drama and problems. With them, nothing is so bad that it cannot get worse. {Read that last sentence again.} By listening to their countless grievances, you’ll just be wasting your time and their bad energy will rub off on you. Some of these energy vampires will leave you feeling depressed and exhausted.

Even when you try to offer them solutions to their magnified problems, your suggestions will be dismissed as nonsense, and they’ll have a hundred reasons why nothing will work.

Their strength comes from talking about their miserable life which gets worse by the minute. Your strength comes from doing what it takes to keep improving your life and going to the next level and the next.

You’re the polar opposite of a toxic person… and to stay sane, you must steer clear of them at all cost. There is no other way.

And if they’re family members, I know it can be difficult. Here’s my two cents - be smart and polite, perhaps maintain some contact if it can’t be avoided, but never spend too much time with them or give too much weight to a single one of their words.

Some people create their own storms and get mad when it rains. Just make sure you’re far away when the torrential downpour hits.
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Avoid toxic people totally when you can, and maintain minimal contact if you can’t. This is the best way to approach the problem and maintain your own sanity as you progress in all areas of your life.