Toxic People

 In life all of us have had circumstances where we are in contact with a toxic person or people. They play games making their behavior the result of their parents, the unfairness in life, and various other excuses. They play passive aggressive games, treat people poorly, never seem to accept blame in situations. Then they play the victim despite their end result being of their own crafting. 

Sometimes it can be a relative, a co worker or even the philosophy that a group accepts. Often we have no choice but to remain within the reach of the toxic situation, we live with the family member, have a job that pays well that we like, but we try our best to avoid interaction with the toxic negativity. At one job I held, this woman co-worker was a holy Hell, even management kowtowed to her, making her even more powerful. Thankfully after several years her own activities sabotaged her job. We spoke of it in murmurs, but no one dared put it on the table.

Some families have such toxic member that they participate minimally in family gatherings as it is just not worth their sanity. I know a few people that have worn this role and many that still do. One person has a brother that thankfully lives a coast away. It is interesting to watch these people in action, but not for long. Continuing to tolerate their behavior just gives them strength and continued toxicity.

When you can, completely avoid this kind of person. If you cannot, do your best to limit your contact as to keep your soul and sanity as intact as possible. When you play into their nonsense, you unwittingly provide them with what they want. Do these individuals ever change? Personally, I have never seen it, they are blamers, blithely never accepting personal responsibility. Do you resemble a toxic person? Perhaps if you think you may be one, you should ponder what you can do to change the tide.