Every day we hear on television and radio ads the newest detox fads.

It is all about what you can put in your body, to cleanse yourself of the toxins that are detrimental to your health and wellness. However, there is one portion of toxicity that we always seem to forget about, and that is toxic people.

Toxic people are always going to be present in your life. It is important to recognize those that are toxic to your well being. Toxic people can be represented by a number of things;

Toxic people can range from friends, family, colleagues, roommates. Toxic people are manipulative. They try and make you think that they want the best for you, or that it was your idea to do something. Toxic people are not going to be there to congratulate you when your life is good. They do not wish to celebrate in your victories. Toxic people never own that what they said may have hurt you, and on the flip side of that, toxic people never apologize. They will often times flip the story so that what actually happened, never happened. Toxic people bring back irrelevant information to arguments. It could be an argument that happened six months ago, but it’s still a part of the current problem in their mind. Lastly, toxic people have a way of using the one time you did something wrong, and hyperbolizing it into something such as “You always leave your trash out” even if you did it one time.

It is important to first recognize who is toxic and who is not. As over-used as this word is, you should use the following as a separation. People who annoy you are not exactly toxic. They may get under your skin, but they are not necessarily detrimental to your mental health. Toxic people are the people that make you so angry at everything and everybody. Their toxicity spreads to you, and thus causing you to spread it to others. Toxicity is contagious even in the most level-headed people. This is why removing toxicity is so necessary

Those are just a few examples of things that toxic people do, however, I am sure that one certain person popped into your mind when you were reading. This could possibly signify that you may need to begin to rid this toxic person from your life. Toxic people do not only strain you emotionally, but also mentally and physically. They attempt to take away from what you have worked so hard to build up because of their resentment and frustration toward their own lack of growth. Toxicity in a person may be blind at first, mostly because they portray that they want the best for you. In reality, they want to dig at your heels as long as they can.

When you go about removing these people, you should recognize a few things. First, you should know that you have a choice into who you allow to speak to you. If you do not wish to speak to somebody because they are negatively effecting you, then you do not have to. Even though it is popular of a toxic person to tell you that you have to respond to their messages, and project as if you are the problem, know that not wanting to talk to them is not the problem. Second, you do not have to give them an explanation as to why you want to rid them of your life. You do not owe them anything, and it is okay to leave it at something like “I don’t want to see you again”. Lastly, know that nobody, no matter what role they hold in your life has the right to harbor that detrimental degree of negativity. Whether it be a family member, or a close friend, you do not have to “put up with” anybody that negatively affects you in such a way. You don’t have to just live with how they treat you. You are in control of who you allow to be in your life, and you have a choice no matter how close to your life the person is.

Once you can recognize and erode the toxicity, you will see an overall change in the grand scheme of your life.