We all have been warned to guard ourselves against letting toxic people into our lives. Yet, the truth is, identifying the signs of a toxic person is hard to identify, especially when they are all over the place. It can be anyone, an immediate family, a relative, a friend, a colleague, or a partner.
Toxic people are like alcohol and drugs, for a fleeting moment, they make us feel good. We base our judgment on how it made us feel, and turn a blind eye on the underlying circumstances and damages it can cause. When it hits you, it will hit us big time. Then, we’ll realize how deep we dug ourselves into. And, it doesn’t just destroy us emotionally, a study revealed that being in a relationship with a negative person increases our risk of having heart disease, diabetes, and metabolism issues.
Signs of a Toxic Person
Hence, we need to identify who is toxic in our circle. Take a look at the list of signs to know wether you are dealing with a toxic person or not.
1. Blames other people
Toxic people love to pinpoint and put the blame on others whenever negative circumstances happen their way. They don’t accept responsibility for what happened, instead, they berate you for not doing enough.
2. Know it-all
Admitting mistakes is something a toxic person won’t ever do. They always find a reason, illogical at that, just to prove to everyone that they are right. They won’t accept your side of the argument, instead, they want you to believe their facts.
3. No regard to boundaries
We all have that personal space we don’t want others to cross, not even our closest friends. However, toxic people won’t understand the concept of respecting your boundaries. They won’t leave even when you politely say you want to be alone and expects you to come through for them regardless of how you feel.
4. Habitual liar
Lying is normal for toxic people. It is easy for them to twist the truth, make something up, or exaggerate things for their advantage. What’s worse is, they don’t even express remorse if found out, instead, they find reasons to rationalize what they did.
5. Loves to play the victim card
Yes, they will always claim to be the victim even on the crimes they commit. We all know toxic people lie like their lives depend on it. They will go around and ask sympathy, feigning to be the victim, and manipulating other’s feelings just to be on their side.
6. Self- centered
For toxic people, they are always the center of their universe. In return, they want the world to revolve around them. If they won’t gain from it, expect no help from them.
7. Never listens
If you want to be heard and be understood, never talk to a toxic person. They might pretend to listen for a few minutes before subtly changing the topic, or purposely act bored so you’ll stop talking. For them, whatever you say is not important. But when they talk about themselves, they expect you to listen. Self- centered at its best.
8. Loves to talk behind someone’s back
Toxic people want to be above everyone else. They put other people down when they want too, and oftentimes they do that behind that person’s back. They love to hit on someone’s weakness and insecurities and belittle a person’s achievement. Whatever things they can do just to boost their self-esteem.
9. Doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer
Toxic people love to have a way in everything. They will do anything just to get what they want, even if it means stepping on someone’s toes.
10. Loves to guilt trip
One of the things they do to manipulate other people’s feelings is guilt-tripping. The famous line of toxic people, “If you love me or if you are my friend, you have to do this or that.”
11. Gives backhanded compliment
Since they want you to believe they are on your side, they also give compliments when the situation calls for it. However, they don’t do it without also giving insults. A perfect example of it is this, “I wish I didn’t have any responsibilities like you.” Like, what?
12. Easily jealous
Toxic people are manipulators. When they set their eyes on you, they will do anything to control you and will consider you as part of their possession. They will try to cut you off from the world you used to live in and wants all you focus and attention to them.