Toxins

I know I just gave a whole talk about new beginnings and about how beneficial they really are. However, toxic friendships have definitely on the brain. I, unfortunately, have had my share of unbelievable toxic friendships. Most of the time, they started off perfect. Once the honeymoon period wore off, people started getting really "catty" and it gave me a lot of stress. I was anxious about how to deal with these situations. I found myself holding in a lot of the anger and frustration I built up. It was unhealthy for me to have all these negative relationships in my life and this anger around me. I was irritable and frankly, just plain rude. I realized that these toxic friendships really stemmed from toxic people. I know that sounds just down right horrible to blame the entire thing on one person, but there isn't much someone can do if they don't cause a toxic relationship. Toxic people often don't care much about others which makes it hard to have a lasting relationship. A few years ago, two good friends I had made on particular sports team. We created a bond and it felt so great to have such great friends on the team that were in my grade. The following year, they teamed up and created this ultra-clique between themselves. They blocked me out and bullied me all the time. I didn't want to go to practice and I dreaded seeing them in school. When I called them out on it, they would ignore it and they would laugh at me behind my back. I was so frustrated and blamed it on myself. These toxic friends did not stop until an intervention from my coach. One of them felt so horribly that she wrote an apology note, while the other avoided (and still does) the entire situation. It makes me upset that they didn't "got away" without more of a punishment, but I am a strong believer in karma. What goes around comes around.  These toxic friends are out of my life and I can finally breathe again. The storm is over and I couldn't be more thankful for that. It is never hard to break about relationships that aren't working, but when you are in over your head in toxic relationships, enough is enough after a while. It wasn't the easiest process facing people who bullied me, but killing off those relationships has honestly been the most healing and rewarding thing I've done in a while. I found my group and the positive friends who bring out the best in me. It has taken me a while to find them, but I am ecstatic that I've found them.