Does anyone feel free from people who were toxic towards you and even others in the past? Do you feel happier and more energized that they are no longer bothering you? I sometimes will be reminded of someone I didn't really care for, like seeing the college we both attended together, and it makes me realize how much more free and energized I feel without the person bugging me down. I felt like I was not able to be myself when this person was around.

There was one person in college who was constantly stuck up and arrogant, constantly bent reality and was really convinced she was right about anything and couldn't accept responsibility for her own failures. She also took advantage of her own disability to get people to do things for her she could clearly still do on her own. Most people would do things out of politeness but eventually get annoyed when they caught on.

Eventually she became an alcoholic especially after graduating from college. She would constantly talk about how much better she was than others, family members and friends she thought she was close to, while putting herself in danger and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol to the point of having to go to the hospital many times. She seemed to really enjoy talking about others, she would laugh about them and go into detail about why she felt like she was better than others and knew she was always right.

I haven't heard from her in several months, probably close to a year and that is fine with me. I never considered her a friend at all, but she would constantly hang around me at school even when I made it clear I didn't want her around because she really had no one else to hang around. She would go as far as to look for me in the residence hall I lived in while I would be out hanging out with friends elsewhere. She would also try to convince any new person I met that they were automatically not good friends and were just using me out of boredom. While some people did do that, that wasn't the case for everyone and she just assumed too much and felt like she was trying to control me. She basically saw people, including me, as disposable puppets it seemed. She would want to be around certain people, especially for help, but then talk bad about them behind their back. I'm sure she gossiped about me.

She would get mad at me if I hung around others and didn't try to keep in touch with her or talk to her, stating I am neglecting the friendship since she assumed we were best friends even though we weren't. I just simply didn't have any interest in having a friendship with her due to her personality. She would constantly be insulting and label me as gay because I am not interested in dating or sex and labeled me as fake because I'm not interested in being friends with her.

I'm not sure what she is doing now, I don't know if she is still an alcoholic, wouldn't be surprised if she is and if she possibly even screwed up her life to the point of no return. She may have more problems now than ever due to the fact that she strongly believed that marijuana and smoking was good for you. She even believed that drinking 8-12 or more cups of alcohol in one night was okay, which landed her in the hospital a lot. These are all things she told me. She texted me a lot despite me not wanting her to and talk bad about others, yet do that kind of stuff.

She also constantly believed that words, any word you could think of, actually had different meanings than they actually did even after proving it to her by showing her what they mean in a dictionary or showing her online through reliable resources. All of this made me very drained and I would constantly wish she would just leave me alone. Now that she finally stopped talking to me, just randomly stopped, I feel a lot better. I feel more free. It is a shame that she had to become an alcoholic and I believe she actually suffered more health problems due to it from what she told me before suddenly ceasing to talk to me.

She pressured me multiple times in the past to try to start drinking with her as well. Although I have had alcohol in the past, I never got drunk and didn't even like it and was not comfortable being around her drinking, especially after hearing how she is when she drinks. I don't have alcohol anymore, it is gross and not good. Is it true that being around toxic people can actually make you more depressed? Is there a reason some people will go as far as to bend reality like that just to ensure they are always right and truly believe they are better than other people? It took a long time, five years in college and two years after graduating, for her to stop talking to me but she finally did get the hint. I did tolerate her during college since it was so small and didn't want to create awkwardness or problems. Everyone did that, they were nice but weren't friends with her. But I never made it look like I wanted to be friends with her. She just assumed we were best friends, just like she did with everyone else.