We have all had toxic people dust us with their poison. Difficult people are drawn to the reasonable ones and all of us have likely had or have at least one person in our lives who have us bending around ourselves like barbed wire in endless attempts to please them — only to never really get there.
Being able to spot their harmful behaviour is the first step to minimising their impact. You might not be able to change what they do, but you can change what you do with it, and any idea that toxic somebody in your life might have that they can get away with it.
There are plenty of things toxic people do to manipulate people and situations to their advantage. Here are 12 of them. Knowing them will help you to avoid falling under the influence:. When this happens, you might find yourself making excuses for them or doing everything you can to make them happy. See why it works for them? Stop trying to please them. Toxic people figured out a long time ago that decent people will go to extraordinary lengths to keep the people they care about happy.
Walk away and come back when the mood has shifted. If you have done something unknowingly to hurt somebody, ask, talk about it and if need be, apologise. Toxic people have a way of sending out the vibe that you owe them something. They also have a way of taking from you or doing something that hurts you, then maintaining they were doing it all for you. This is particularly common in workplaces or relationships where the balance of power is out.
For Remember that. They never apologise. Just move forward — without them. Some people want to be right more than they want to be happy and you have better things to do than to provide fodder for the right-fighters. Are you sure you want to go? The message might be innocent enough but the tone conveys so much more. Mine was awful. Just awful. Meanwhile, your initial need is well gone on the pile of unfinished conversations that seems to grow bigger by the day.
