8 Signs of a Toxic Friendship | Sharon Livingston | TEDxWilmingtonWomen

There are stories of people with bullets in their head who don’t even know it.
Many more people are living with toxic friendships without even knowing it.
Knowing the 8 signs of a toxic friendship can help you avoid them.

Dr. Sharon Livingston is founder and president of The Livingston Group for Marketing, Inc., a brand marketing research company that implements projective techniques to discover and strengthen the relationship between Fortune 100 products and their consumers. Sharon also wrote “Get Lost Girlfriend: How I Found Myself When My Best Friend Dumped Me”. In spite of her professional success, Sharon found herself in a toxic friendship — a friendship she treasured turned out to be deeply harmful. Turning to business principles in branding and working on her own personal brand, she learned new ways to care for herself emotionally. Sharon has determined that toxic friendships are identifiable, that you CAN heal and protect yourself from poisonous people in the future.

[PrimalxxFear]

If you are looking up toxic friend videos, you have a toxic friend. Welcome to the true cool kids corner 😂

[kumajoey]

Easiest way to know you have a toxic friends, is when you feel like you are dying inside whenever you talk to or see them.

[karinamariapiotrowska]

It's terrifying leaving any friendship circle knowing that you'll have no one left

[PamelaReyes]

The best way to identify them is when you feel anxiety before meeting them...

[ey]

A scary thing is having to take a step back and realize if you are that toxic friend you know

[opheliad]

It takes me 16 years of toxic relationship one day I say enough is enough. I just stop picking up her call. I was always there for her she was never there for me. I become my own best friend. Thank you ma'am.

[thatlittlehuman]

I remember being in a very negative space, and I was the toxic friend. Everything she describes, I was. My friend was my therapist and everything was all about me. Poor girl. She did not deserve that. 😞 she separated herself from me and I was so mad, I thought she abandoned me. It took a lot of self reflection to realize that I was the problem, not her.

[JosephBrown-cwml]

All this can be summarized by: “The best indicator of a relationship’s health is the way it makes you feel.”

[PagesofWisdom]

1. Making you compete with other friends.
2. Negative criticism.
3. Your friend tells you that you need to change.
4. Having to walk on eggshells.
5. Being on an emotional Roller coaster.
6. You listen to their issues but they don't listen to yours.
7. Who calls who and when.
8. The stress effects your health negatively.
Credit to +StrangeViolette

[miat]

I think one of the hardest and most solidifying parts about leaving toxic friends is when you distance yourself and no one even notices.

[snc]

the hardest part perhaps is taking a step away from that friendship without feeling like some sort of traitor

[chikaka]

The super attached friend usually ends up being a toxic friend. I found that my more healthy friends have their own lives, our friendship is important but not everything. So it’s important to have many friends. No one friend can meet all of our friendship needs. I also agree that “best friend” is a childish concept-I love each of my friends for their unique qualities, I don’t need to play favorites. I might be closer to one or two friends at a certain point in time, but that can change

[Myeyesburnbabyburn]

Please set boundaries and be open and honest with your friends. If they react rude or offended then may be best not to be friends anymore. Saves time and hurt.

[KingofNewYorkkk]

Protect your energy It's better than be alone than be in emotional turbulent situations. Travel. Having mates is fun, just pick the ones that increase your pleasure, not your blood pressure

[Exsugarbabe]

Learn to be a loner, toxic people don't like independence. If you chose to have a friend rather than being desperate friends are easier to dump.

[coopsawright]

a damaged person will eventually damage all their relationships in a very noticeable way.

[butterflying]

The worst thing is when you realize your friend is so much nicer to other friends of her. It should have been an eye-opening moment when I noticed it but I kind of forgot It. Thanks for the reminder! Sometimes it's not about bad people - it's more about bad relationships and the level power over each other. Toxic friendships is such an important topic.

[ellah]

It’s hard to realize when a friendship is toxic, especially after it’s been years, then it seems like you can’t be without them, it becomes an addiction, a cycle, a routine.

[karensadock]

One of the most draining kinds of "friendship" is one in which someone is so generous of time and service, so flattering, that it takes you years to figure out that you have been sucked into a relationship of obligation and interpersonal "debt" because you have been used as a prop to hold up someone else's ego. It's a variation on the way child molestors draw children into their trust orbit before they do anything ugly.

[jamoriah]

I think people come into our lives to help us for a period. These helpers are mistaked as friendships, when really they are short-term situations.