10 TYPES OF TOXIC PEOPLE YOU SHOULD KEEP OUT OF YOUR LIFE

Toxic people are mentally and physically exhausting to be around, and they can have a massive negative impact on you.

Toxic people bring into your life distractions, stress, and negativity. All of these are unnecessary obstacles. So, it is best to avoid them.

You may know a few toxic people in your life right now. They might be your co-workers, or in your current circle of friends, or family members.

You might be one of them yourself!

Toxic people defy logic. Some are unaware of the negative impact that they have on those around them.

And others seem to derive satisfaction from creating turmoil in other people’s lives.

And hopefully, this list of 10 types of toxic people will you recognise whether any of them are around you.

The faster you stay away from these toxic people, the better for you and your future.

1. Those who spread Negativity all the time.

You may develop negative thinking yourself or even get depressed if you hang out with negative people too often. And we know the importance of focusing on the positive to attract better things into our lives.

Negative people will go out of their way to:

• Bringing everyone around them down.
• Discourage other people.
• Point out every possible way you will fail.
• Point out how mediocre or weak or inept you are.

Do not be surprised that they enjoy doing this.

Why do people want to spread negativity? They want to carry out some of these things:

• Get attention. Do not ask questions and do not engage them if you must listen to them.
• Draw you into their circle of negativity. They are not pleased that you are not negative and will try to influence you.
• Create conflict. They want to create a lot of drama. Just walk away.

However, the good thing is that negative people provide you opportunities for growth.

They can teach you to be resilient to negativity and to appreciate the good things in your life.

On the other hand, enforced positivity is also not good. Positivity is great, but people who try to suppress your emotions are not.

Negative people are not a big part of your life although it seems likely that they are surrounding you.

A good life is about genuine happiness and about embracing all your emotions, even if they are negative.

2. Those who are judgmental.

Judgmental people will criticize anything and everything.

If you take the time to explain something in depth, with facts and information, they will ignore it. Immediately swept aside. Or they will find a way to criticize or disparage it. It is like talking to a wall. Just cannot seem to go through.

They have made up their minds and do not want to listen to facts.

They talk and do not listen.

Asking for advice or feedback from a judgmental person is a complete waste of time.

3. Those who are arrogant.

Arrogance is a whole lot different than confidence.

Do not confuse confidence with arrogance.

Confident people inspire us.

Arrogant people intimidate and annoy us.

Someone with an arrogant attitude feels that he or she is better than everyone around them.

Somebody utters this Chinese saying “I have eaten more salt than you have eaten rice” when pushing their views on to you. Some people use this phrase to belittle someone who is younger or has less experience.

In a personal setting this can be annoying, while in a professional situation this can create an uncomfortable environment.

4. Those who always play the victim.

It is always other people’s fault. Never theirs.

They will always find someone to blame for the setbacks in their lives or their mistakes.

They do not want to take responsibility. And sooner or later they will end up blaming you too.

You find it hard to find them in the first instance.

They will get you to empathise or sympathise with them and get your help.

But their time of need will never end.

Toxic people will make you forget to see tough times as learning and growing opportunities.

Always blaming the circumstances and not doing anything to change themselves or their attitude.

5. Those who always gossip.

These are the type of people who share negative stories about:

Your colleagues, friends, or acquaintances; or

Even about people you do not even know.

Gossip consists of sharing unproven rumours about others that turns out to be untrue.

This is dangerous because:

• The person the rumour is about has no opportunity to respond as the rumour spreads.
• People often make incorrect judgments about people based on rumours that prove untrue.

Why do people gossip? They are insecure and they want to be the centre of attention.

Gossipers are potentially destructive people. And they are utterly useless.

Remember that:

If they are gossiping to you about someone else, they are likely gossiping about you to someone else too.

Ignore, and if possible avoid these people.

If someone you know starts to gossip, quickly change the subject. Show them that you are not interested.

And sometimes or even most of the time, these stories may prove to be untrue.

6. Those who are manipulators.

Manipulative people are the smartest and most harmful group of toxic people. It is because they are trying to get you to do what they want for their personal gain.

They will use lies and half-truths to get what they want.

They are egotistical, selfish, and often narcissistic.

Manipulative people are not interested in you as a person. Their only interest is in gaining control over you to enlist you as an unwilling participant in their plans.

They suck time and energy out of your life under the façade of friendship.

It is quite tricky to deal with them because they treat you like a friend.

They know what you like, what makes you happy, and what you think is funny. But the crux of the matter is this; they will use this information as part of a hidden agenda.

Manipulators always want something from you. If you reflect on your relationships with them, it is all taking without giving.

First they win you over, then they work you over.

They can make you feel worthless and disappointed by harming your confidence and forcing you to do things you did not want to do.

Furthermore, they will be very annoyed or upset if you do not do what they expect you to do. This also applies to any single thing you disagree with them.

Manipulators want to control everyone and everything all the time. No stepping back.

You do not need that kind of relationship in your life.

You need people in your personal and professional life that you can trust and are supportive of you.

7. Those who are jealous.

When a person feels inferior they may express their feelings in the form of jealousy.

But some people are constantly jealous. They are never happy with what they have, and they will never be happy when good things happen to you.

They will keep sending out toxic and negative vibrations out of envy. From their warped point of view that good thing that happened to you should have happened to them.

Do not take jealousy personally.

Understand that when a person is jealous of you, it has nothing to do with you, and it has everything to do with them.

Be confident in yourself. Do not let a jealous person affect your confidence or get in your mind. If you let this happen, you will begin to doubt yourself.

Surround yourself with people who will support you and who will help you move forward.

8. Those who are chronic opinion givers.

Opinion givers are those toxic people who are always quick to share their thoughts with you on topics that are sensitive to you.

Thoughts that are at times malicious, mean, poisonous and sneaky. These would include:

• Memories of an incident or event that you are not proud of or unhappy about.
• Reminders that you do not look good. Too fat, poor taste in clothes, etc.
• Saying or hinting that your choice of career of job is wrong.
• Saying or hinting that the job or the course of study will be too difficult for you.
• Raising doubts over your choice of the life you want to live.

These can be in the form of comments, statements, questions, opinions, advice etc.

And those who usually give these opinions say they are for your own good. And because they care or are concerned about you.                                                                                             

Sneaky.

Some of them are also control freaks.

9. Those who are control freaks.

Have come across people who regularly makes the following assertions?

“I know everything.”

“I know the best way to do everything.”

They would not want to listen as they do not have to, in their distorted point of view.

They are control freaks.

Sometimes they are a nuisance in your life.

At other times, they are a nightmare to deal with in both your personal life and working life.

Imagine going through life with people, some of them are friends, second guessing what you do.

And at times dictating what you should or should not do.

They may be right sometimes. But they believe themselves as infallible. So how could they be wrong?

Yet, you will find out later that most of the things they said or done were totally wrong.

The ramifications from that decision may linger many years after that. A wrongly made choice due to pressure from a control freak has made you dissatisfied with your life.

It sounds depressing.

10. Those who waste your time.

There are just some people who want your attention.

They just want to share all sorts of stuff with you.

Always asking you to meet up for whatever reason. What is Interesting is that these people are usually not your friends. They are likely just acquaintances or somebody you hardly know.

Always want to call you claiming that they want to seek your advice or opinion. What they want is to do any one or more of these things:

• Gossip. Potentially harmful and is a huge waste of time.
• Push their one-sided views. On health, nutrition, politics, exercise, music, movies, international affairs, unusual conspiracy theories. And they want you to agree with them.
• Just want to dig out personal or sensitive information from you. Which you are obviously not willing to share.
• Seek consultation or advice on all sorts of things. They should be getting these from a qualified professional which is not free. Or they are too lazy to check it up.
• Sometimes they just want to provoke you. To get you riled up for their amusement. Like an internet troll.

Why do they want to do this? No valid reason at all. For fun or to kill time. Who cares?

You want to be polite and nudge them off gently, but they do not take the hint or do not bother.

Must be more direct and a push or shove would be better.

Final thoughts.

Toxic people and relationships are a serious problem for many of us because they are everywhere. And sometimes they are not always easy to identify.

Sometimes we become so used to toxic behaviour can become numb to it. We take it for granted.

But the truth is everyone can change, and you deserve better in your relationships.

Limit your exposure to toxic individuals.

Once you have identified a toxic person, you can try to openly communicate with that person how you feel. Some of them will understand and respect your boundaries. Some will not.

They might not mean you any harm on purpose. But if they are not willing to change, you must rethink their importance or relevance to you in your life.

If someone is clearly dismissive of your emotions, then it is time to make an exit from that relationship.

Get toxic people out from your life.

Remove them from your life or get out of their circle of influence.

Focus on your life and on reaching your goals. You do not need all these unnecessary distractions.

You will create a much better environment for yourself by removing all toxic people from your personal life and business.

Life is short. Do not waste your time and energy dealing with someone’s toxic behaviour.