Improving Mental Health

Cut out the Negative

There’s a little nugget of wisdom that I have often heard in my life time. Cut out the negativity. I’m guessing this isn’t a new one. Maybe “Cut out toxic people,” “get of a toxic situation.”

All of them the same essentially.

It can be hard to do sometimes. Perhaps the negative source we need to cut out is a person. Maybe someone we at one point called a friend. Someone we trusted.

We might feel this obligation to continue being their friend even if they are a source of negativity that brings us down in life. Perhaps you’ve been friends for very long and you feel as if you stuck it out this long then your real friends right? That you should continue staying friends and have been friends for so long how could you start over with a new friend? There is a sense of obligation.

Or perhaps we want to ignore the face that they are the problem. It always hard to admit to ourselves if it’s someone we loved at some point. It’s hard to move on. Whether it be a romantic relationship or a friendship.

I had a problem like that myself a few years back in high school. I could tell the friends I have surrounded myself with where a source of negativity. I found myself not feeling like I belong there when we were all in a group and feeling excluded. I felt like everyone had drama with each other and secretly hid it behind each other’s backs. It was just not good. I felt bad in those relationships I didn’t feel like I was my whole self.

I did what I had to do. And I decided to cut those friendships off. Yes it was very hard and yes they we’re not happy with me. One of them even threatened me, but I just kept my head up and high. I didn’t let them know how much they got to me. Yes at first I felt a little lost and a lone. But I worked on other friendships and found people I connected with better.

In the end I ended up feeling so much. I knew that if I had stayed in that friend group I would of had to fight misery all school year. It was so much better. I felt so much better.

Just remember that even though breaking off friendships or relationships can sometimes be hard and yes they can cause you some mild amount of pain for a short time in the aftermath. But in the end it will be so much better because you no longer have to stay in a situation where you feel miserable.

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