To spot a toxic friend you should be able to differentiate true friends and fake ones. Friendship is invaluable for us all and most of the things you do are because your friends stirred you consciously or subconsciously. Friends are there to support you throughout life, they encourage you to grow to achieve success at the same time are unconditional. They stick by in the tough times and also try to bring us out of it.
On the other hand, toxic or fake friends are the ones who keep us grounded and worse make us feel bad about ourselves. However, they make sure to take plenty of advice from us and give us back nothing.
Let us take a look at how one can distinguish between true and toxic friends to find clarity in friendships.
Toxic friends are jealous of your success
Your success will make your true friend squeal and plan for the celebration. A toxic friend would end up being jealous. As soon as they have known the news of your success, they will try to avoid you.
True friends have invested in you and consider you as their extended version. Toxic friends will never want you to outgrow them and do better than them.
Toxic friends would invade your alone time
A true friend will understand if you need the weekend off to yourself and need some space. They will make sure you are not disturbed.
A toxic friend would bug you if they are in need of your help. Perhaps they need someone to accompany them to go out and they will eventually drag you out from your alone time.
Toxic friends calls you because they need something
A true friend would call you up to check on you any day. They will call you just because they want to talk to you and miss you.
A toxic friend calls you up when they are in trouble and know that you can fix it. Most of the other days, they are absent. They are never available when you need them.
Toxic friends don’t like your other friends
A true friend values friendships and knows that they cannot be the center of your universe. They respect and are happy that you have other friends.
However, a toxic one would be jealous of your other friends, as they don’t like you being busy with others. They want you to be available whenever they need you. These are the ones who keep telling you that “you are changing” as they don’t like the other friends trying to encourage you into something good.
Toxic friends are determined to change you
A true friend loves your quirkiness and accepts you as you are. Even when you make changes in your life such as when you quit alcohol or decide to go vegetarian they support you and help you through.
Toxic friend cannot accept these changes especially when it affects them. You can no longer be their drinking buddy which will obviously put them off. They will tell you that you are making a wrong decision.
They never care about you or your happiness, they always think about themselves and you hear a quiet a lot of “what about me, you never think of me” from them.
Toxic friends don’t offer empathy
We are always in the need of the support and understanding of friends. We should be able to open up to our friends. True friends come forward and attempt to understand your point of view. They care about you and your welfare.
Toxic ones, on the other hand, will hurt you rather understanding your situation. They are most likely to dismiss your feelings of depression and anxiety. Only when they feel something like this you should be available to empathize with them.
