Six types of toxic friends you should avoid

It is human nature to be drawn to any form of social and friendship connection. We are made stronger by the bonds and thought of having people we can trust and depend on in our time of need. These bonds that tie us to strangers are always amazing until they aren’t.

It is not easy to judge people’s characters from face value but with time, as you get to know them, you may notice traits that are toxic. Here are some types of toxic friends you should steer clear of in your life:

If your friend lies about anything and everything, then that’s a red flag. The compulsive liar will tell white lies constantly and they are likely to manipulate and gaslight you. Be careful of these ones, they are the masters of manipulation and guilt trips,. You are likely to do a lot of favours for these types of friends and pay their bills too.

This type of friend believes they are better than everyone else. They only care about themselves, lack empathy and will do just about anything to shine and put down everyone around them. With this kind of friend, you are likely to talk about their life achievements and progress more than anything else. They are also poor listeners since they will be doing all the talking most of the time.

These types of friends constantly feel the need to be in charge, they want to be the ones to choose every place you hang out, the food you buy and sometimes they even decide what you should wear. They will make you feel inferior and doubt your capabilities of being able to make any decisions on your own. They also criticize everything you do and will judge and berate you for not listening to them when you make mistakes.

These types of friends will gossip about anyone, everyone and anything. They will even go as far as gossiping about their close friends when they are not around. Usually it seems like drama follows them wherever they go but in the real sense they bring it to themselves. Be very wary of these kinds of friends, they will put you in awkward positions and probably cause bad blood between you and other people.

This kind of friend will depress you. They will drain all your energy with all their unending problems. They have mastered the art of creating problems from simple situations and feeding on the negativity, it will seem like they don’t want the bad things to go away. Other than depressing you, these type of friends will constantly criticize every decision you make and bully you for doing what you truly want.

They are jealous of everyone and will never be happy for you. They will constantly bad mouth those around them for making financial moves or progressing in their careers. Like the narcissists, they also want to be the best only they don’t put effort towards it but will constantly complain about other people showing off instead.

Tip: Friendship is like two-way traffic; always treat your friends how you would want them to treat you.