How to stop being a toxic person

A toxic person is one who always sees negativity, criticizes everything, absorbs the energy of others, is always right and ends up hurting those around him. If you feel identified as a person of this type, you have noticed or made you see that you really make others feel guilty even though they are not and that you are excessively selfish, you may be interested in changing this aspect of your personality even if you do not know how.

Although it is not an easy task to reeducate oneself, it is also not impossible to improve some aspects if desired. If you want to achieve it, keep reading this article of .com in which we will explain how to stop being a toxic person .

How to identify a toxic person

People of a toxic nature are those who, normally without realizing it, create a negative atmosphere, criticize other people but do little self-criticism, do not see positive things, always end up arguing and, as a consequence, damaging those around them and losing friendships and relationships.

It is normal for people to want to save a friendship when it has been damaged, but it reaches a point where it may be impossible to achieve it if the toxic person does not do his part to improve this aspect. Because of this, many times people who are more positive, or who see both sides in things, end up fleeing from toxic people.

Keep in mind that although negativity is a characteristic feature of this type of personality, not all negative people are toxic, since the difference lies in the fact that the latter end up damaging and absorbing the energy of others and, instead, negative people can not continuously damage those around them by knowing how to respect and listen even seeing only the black side of things.

Everyone, ever in our lives, we have seasons in which we can identify with some of the traits that characterize people with toxic character, but this does not mean that we have always been and / or that we will always be a person who harms others . It is in our hands to be aware and decide to do something about it.

Therefore, although knowing how to recognize a toxic person and identify oneself in this way of being may not be easy, it is the first step to begin to stop being a toxic person . Thus, the path begins to become a more positive, assertive, empathetic person who creates more pleasant environments, that is, a nutritious person . Although, if we do not want to reach as much as it can be very difficult to change, at least we can get to soften toxic traits and thus stop constantly damaging those around us.

Once you identify yourself as someone toxic, the decision is yours, so the second important step is to know if you want to change or not. In the following lines you will find the keys to stop being a toxic person .

Analyze your behaviors and start changing them

Ask yourself what aspects of your personality and behaviors are what cause you to be toxic. Analyze the possible reasons to work on them later.

When you decide what behaviors and feelings you do not want to keep, imagine how you could be more positive behaviors . You can try it with these steps:

  1. Focus on what you want to change and emotional resources such as tolerance, relaxation, patience and self-criticism.
  2. Imagine situations in which you are aware that you have been toxic to someone and think how you would have responded if you had been more relaxed, more tolerant, listen, etc. It is to be expected that the reaction of the other person would have been completely different and things would not have gone so badly.
  3. When you see what emotional resources are what you really need to work on and reinforce, try to use them on a day-to-day basis.

Ask a professional for help

It is usual to need professional help to try to solve some internal problems or to learn to approach some situations. Do not hesitate to consult a psychologist if you think that this can help you improve your current situation, in addition, this will also help you to stop being a toxic person .

Discuss with this professional the reasons why you think you have become someone toxic and why you want to change it, so you can advise and guide you.

Laugh and be more tolerant

Learning to laugh and see things with more positivity is something vital to stop having a negative and harmful behavior. Try to enjoy the little things even if you do not give them much importance. Little by little you will see that it is good to enjoy, be more positive and laugh, that it is a healthy habit and that over time it will be completely natural and easy.

Likewise, you must work tolerance and flexibility with others, so you will be able to stop being so critical and negative.

Listen to others

Toxic people tend not to listen to what people want to tell them, they just tend to believe that they are absolutely right and that their point of view is more logical. Therefore, to avoid this, try to make an effort to listen carefully when others want to tell you something. Let speak, listen carefully and, when they finish, then you can give your opinion without being aggressive or invasive. To reinforce this, try to work assertiveness and empathy . You can read this other article to know how to be empathetic.

Be self-critical

Practice self-criticism trying to be realistic will serve to realize that you are not someone perfect, that like everyone else you have your failures and that some of these are improvable and others are part of your personality. Thus, you will see what things you can and want to change to improve.

But be careful, it is not recommended that you practice self-criticism constantly, since it is not about punishing yourself or reducing your self-esteem, but about improving aspects to find a balance.