What About Toxic People?

My path to cleansing my life goes beyond the products I use at home; it also involves being selective about the people I let into my life. Regrettably, I've had to learn this lesson through difficult experiences and have made this choice multiple times.

Several years ago, my husband and I had to distance ourselves from some friends. It became clear that they weren't enhancing our lives but instead dragging us down. Gradually, we noticed their negative attitude permeated everything around them. They constantly complained about situations rather than taking steps to improve them. Instead of striving for self-improvement, they remained stagnant and immersed in their misery. My husband and I are the kind of people who are always eager to learn and improve ourselves. As we continued to enhance our circumstances, these particular friends grew even more negative. Their attitude was extremely toxic, and they could never share in our happiness. Once this became apparent to us we knew we had to cut ties.

Over the past year, another situation arose involving members of our family. We discovered several instances where we were deliberately excluded. I immediately approached the source to ask why. Through multiple tearful conversations, it became evident that these family members did not have our best interests at heart. We were called hurtful names, labeled as bad people, told we didn't understand pain, and accused of excluding them first. Meanwhile, over the past 10 to 15 years, we have carefully navigated interactions with them and tried to invite them to everything. Most of these invitations were declined, and when accepted, we went above and beyond to make them feel included. I eventually realized that these relationships were toxic and needed to end, even if they were family.

Amidst the issues with these relationships, numerous people advised us to forgive them once more and not to abandon these connections since they were "good friends" or "family." I strongly disagree with this suggestion. While I acknowledge that forgiveness is crucial and have made significant efforts to forgive these individuals, I refuse to let their toxic influence persist in my life.

There's a saying that God places people in your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime, and it's important to determine which category each person fits into. It can be challenging to accept that someone you believed was meant to be in the lifetime category actually belongs in the season or reason category, and to let them go. However, once you do, it is incredibly freeing! Protect your peace!