In almost every article I have ever read on how to be optimistic, there is always a point about letting go of negative people. Personally, I experienced each of these 11 Signs that Tell You It's Time to Let Go with my recent friendships. Having people in your life that make you feel inferior isn't healthy. Letting go is difficult, but this is what happens when you stop hanging out with "Negative Nancy."

You quit crying. When you stop hearing someone say that you are too weak, too dumb, too ugly, too terrible for whatever reason, you learn to be happy. It's easy to get so caught up in other people's opinions. You forget who you really are. You begin to believe the negative opinions are truthful. Sometimes you just find yourself crying because you don't think you are good enough. Once you remove these negative people from your life, the tears stop flowing.

You refocus. Being so consumed in other people's opinions is distracting. How can you start writing a seven page paper when all you can think is what hurtful things were recently said. Analyzing the situation takes up a lot of time! Removing yourself from the constant negative interactions will clear your mind. Instead of worrying about someone else's opinions you can think about what's important: school work, finding a job, family, etc.

You learn. Just because the relationships with those friends didn't work out doesn't mean those friendships were not worthwhile. You shared good times and bad times. Sadly, the bad times outweighed the good, but every experience you had with your old friend helped you grow. Now you know how to handle conflict, how much you can take before you explode, and what aspects of friendship matter most to you.

You see the beauty in life. Everything seems super crappy if someone is constantly saying that your school sucks, the parties you want to go to suck, and so on. Life is not that bad! When you become more optimistic, you begin to appreciate the simple things so much more. Even if something bad happens, you will be able to move on. It's hard to be sad when you see the beauty in everything around you.

You see the friends who matter. Once you let go of the people who upset you, you gravitate towards people who lift you higher. The people who make you laugh and always have your back are the ones who should be in your life. These are the friends who know you are in a bad mood and still make you hang out with them and watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S. just to make you laugh. They push you to apply yourself. They would never try to bring you down or hold you back. They are always up for a good time.

Never let them go.