Quote:
Originally Posted by Have Hope
I find many people's behavior to be toxic for me - meaning, I become unhealthy-minded being around the person, and therefore, I choose not to be around people who are emotionally unhealthy for me, and I choose not to engage with people whose behavior negatively impacts my mental health or mental and emotional well being. I had one friend that I had to sever the friendship with because she definitely was toxic/unhealthy for my mental health. She dragged me down instead of lifted me up. To me, toxic means being around a person who feels like poison to your soul and spirt.
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That is another issue I was thinking of. Poison, that is a strong word but I think you did find a good alternative wording to define what is toxic. Actually, I think "toxic" specifically refers to the effect exerted on you (as the subject).
It doesn't even really say anything specific about the other person's personality, instead what it focuses on is the effect of the behaviour/whatever the person does/whatever's going on in the relationship. It points out how it *affects* you. In contrast, to me words like "abuse" point out the action itself. But that's maybe just my own personal view/interpretation of these words.
So this is the same you are describing, I think. And I do find that I have to avoid such stuff even more while dealing with trauma and depression. Because I take longer to clean it out than I used to, so that is why I have to pay so much attention to avoid all that for now.