5 Types of Toxic People You May Not Need In Your Life

We all know the feeling that toxic people can have on us — we feel drained; we doubt ourselves; we feel negative. Spending time with the wrong people is not just a health risk, but it’s also a significant risk to your personal growth. When you celebrate a victory, the people celebrating with you can either make it better or make it worse.

Life is hard enough on its own without toxic people in your life; here are five types of toxic people you likely don’t need in your life.

The Gossipy One

Now, we are not here to cast all mundane gossip as toxic; we’re human beings, and a little gossip is just in our nature. It’s the person who only has gossip to give that should be on your block list. It’s a simple rule of nature — if someone’s comfortable gossiping to you about someone they still consider a friend, you can assume they’re comfortable gossiping about you to someone else too.

The Jealous One 

Have you ever celebrated even a small achievement or expressed happiness with something in your life, only to have the person you’re telling somehow leave you feeling worse than before you spoke? That’s the jealous one. These types of toxic people have a knack for making you feel subtly worse than before you shared your good news, and that’s an unhealthy cycle to go through.

The Defensive One 

This toxic person makes themselves known pretty quickly, but they’re so common most of us put up with at least one in our lives. The defensive one will allow no one to speak about or do anything that makes them feel uncertain about themselves — which is a lot because that defensiveness is born from insecurity. This toxic person is a drain and will ultimately have you continually checking yourself to avoid triggering their vulnerabilities, which helps neither you nor them.

The Stagnant One 

This might come as a surprise because at face value a stagnant person — meaning they’re not moving forwards or moving backwards in life — might not seem toxic. Yet, classifying stagnant people as toxic will be a big-time power move for you. Think of it this way — even if you’re not moving, time still is, so staying still actually means you’re moving backward. People you are electing to be around should be trying to move forward in their lives as well.

The Negative One 

We’ve all experienced this type of toxic person – the kind that has a talent for putting a negative spin on any situation. The negative one usually has their own problems going on, and while they might say they want help, what they really want is an audience for their suffering. It might sound harsh, but some people fall in love with their pain, and spending too much time with them means their suffering becomes yours eventually as well.