Toxic Friendships

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Hello everyone and welcome back! 

With friendship day around the corner, I wanted to throw light on a pretty unspoken topic based on it!

A lot of us have probably heard of the term 'Toxic Friendships' but not done such a great job at recognizing it. I've had my share too and definitely had a tough time recognizing it until recently.

This "revelation" led me to think about how common this is, having witnessed several, and how we can recognize and put an end to one.

P.s. This post is not promoting the idea of calling out your friendships and breaking them on the spot because of one red flag, but just to spread awareness that such stuff still exists and you must try to not be one. 

So, without further ado, let's get to it!

  Firstly starting off,

What IS a 'Toxic Friendship'?

In simple words, friendships where you feel burdened by the other persons company can be called a toxic friendship. The friendship tends to be more of a competition rather than a healthy relationship. They try and pull you down, don't support you in your endeavors and overall stop your from growing into a better person. They might be extremely possessive about you having other friends or always make things about themselves. They can also be a bad influence and you feel drained after interacting with them.

These are just a few signs. 
However, the most common one is,

Gaslighting

Now a few of us might have come across this term on social media and have some basic idea about it.
On googling this term, the first text that pops up is:

Gaslighting is a form of emotional abuse that makes you question your beliefs and perception of reality.

In toxic friendships, because of excessive neglect and criticism, you start to question whether or not what you're doing is good enough. They make you lose trust in yourself and blindly believe the other, which is a major sign of a toxic friendship. They manipulate you into doing something you were initially redundant to doing.
Now that we've cleared out on what it is a toxic friendship the question arises,

How do I deal with one?

Though most people might think, just "calling them out and breaking it off" would be the best solution, I believe it is not. It spoils a rotten friendship even more and can lead to several other issues as well.

Personally, I believe, talking it out with the other person is the best solution. Communication is key. If you truly care about a friendship, you will call out bad behavior (but keep in mind, not all the time) and help and support them on their journey to being a better one. If despite this they still refuse to even listen to you and try further gaslighting you, that's when you might just have to resort to the easiest option, Ghosting. Cutting off all ties with them, replying late, cancelling plans, the list goes on. 

It's very easy to run away without even trying. But if you try and still realize that it's futile, it might right to step back. Don't break off something over one small red flag which you know will not matter in a few days.
 Removing a toxic person from your life is like having a huge weight lifted off of your shoulders. We all do bad things in our friendships, nobody's perfect. But remember, after the friendship is over, focus on forgiveness. You don’t have to go literally tell them, “I forgive you,” but acknowledging it on your own is the best thing you can do for your own emotional health and move on.

This post is also a reminder to cherish your good friends!
That was it for today's post! Hope y'all enjoyed reading it! Don't forget to share and comment for more content, every Friday! 

Signing off, 
Kuhu :)

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