Love Notes: Toxic Friends.

I watched  Being Mary Jane on BET last night and several scenes stood out to me. One scene in particular though gave me the idea for today's  article. In this scene we see Mary Jane talking about her best friend from grade school with another friend the best friend enters the room over hears the conversation and begins reading Mary Jane to filth. Some of the things she said to Mary Jane was straight up jealousy and resentment speaking. Mary Jane hit back though, saying she was pretty much done with always taking care of that friend and was now basically finished with the friendship. In that moment  I began to think about how many of us in real life are hanging around and holding on to toxic friendships because we are on some "I don't want any new friends" mess or because we feel some level of obligation to a friend because of something they did for us in the past. I'm sure many of us can say we are guilty of having toxic friends. Some of us don't even realize that we are actually in toxic friendships. Below is a list of six signs that you may have a toxic friend.

1. Toxic friends bring nothing but stress to your life they are often times always in need of something from you with nothing to give in return.

2. Toxic friends are never encouraging. You tell them of a plan you have to move your life forward and instead of giving you positive energy they would rather fill your mind with all the reasons you should not go through with your plans.

3. Toxic friends are jealous of your success and sometimes even your relationships and all the joy you have in your life. If you are ever in an argument and they say stuff like "You think you are better than me because you make more money." or anything down that line; that's a sign they are envious and it's never good being friends with someone who is jealous instead of happy for everything you have in your life.

4. Toxic friends always make you feel as if you can never say no to them. They will bring up all the things they did for you years ago in order to make you feel like you owe them some level of obligation. If your friend makes you feel like you have to ask how high each time they say jump, that right there is a sign you are in a toxic friendship.

5. A toxic friend can never admit that they are wrong. If you find yourself always being the one to apologize after an argument or trying to reach out after a disagreement even when you are not to be blamed
or if you spend majority of your friendship arguing or fighting then that's a sign you have a toxic friendship.

6. If other people in your circle tell you that a particular friend is always talking negative things about you behind your back or you get a lot of shade thrown at you by this friend that's a sign you have a toxic friendship.

If you find that you are experiencing everything on
this toxic friendship list then that is a sign you should be having a real conversation with your friend or current group of friends. You should also be thinking about whether or not the friendship is even worth
having anymore. When making the decision to end a toxic friendship remember that we all grow up and out grow each other from time to time and there is no sense to continue to have friends who on the low resent you for every thing you have. It makes no sense having friends who stress you more than they uplift you.