Between work and family life, we have so little time to spare to hang out with friends. Why spend that time hanging out with toxic people who suck the life out of you instead of adding to it? Sometimes these friends are old friends from high school or college and we let things slide even though we’re not happy with their behavior. Sometimes you just don’t understand why you feel worse after hanging out with them. It doesn’t matter. It’s time to drop these people. You might feel bad about leaving an old time friend, but for your own sanity and well being, you’re going to have to try. Here are 5 types of friends you should be cutting from your life:

5 Types of Friends You Should Get Rid Of
The manipulative friend

The me, me, me friend
In their minds, the world revolves around them and them only. This is the buddy that only drinks expensive craft beers so everyone has to drive halfway across town to accommodate his taste, but he won’t swing by a friends BBQ because it’s out of his way. Friends like these want you to change to accommodate them but won’t do the same for you. It’s going to be hard to cut off this friend because they have a knack of making you feel guilty for not wanting to cater to their every whim. But be strong bro, you can do it!

The energy vampire friend
Drama follows this friend around, something always happens to them and now they have to deal with it, process, or dump all over you to get over it. After hanging out with energy vampires you’re pretty much sucked dry of your energy. And no matter how much you’re there for them, they always want more and more. You know those friends that seem to come back to you with the same set of problems and never take any of your advice? Yep. That’s the one. It’s time to let them go because trust me, no matter how much you want to believe that they’ll finally change, they won’t. They don’t want your advice, they just want you to listen as they dump their toxic shit all over you and suck up your fresh energy in exchange so they feel better.

The I’m never wrong friend
These are annoying as hell. Never stepping up and taking responsibility for anything in their lives. You’re probably always getting into arguments with them too because they will lash out and blame anyone nearest to them when things go wrong in their lives rather than say “I was wrong, this is my fault.” Unless they take a long hard look at their lives and start taking responsibility for their actions, you’re just going to become their go-to-blame person if you stick around.

The manipulative friend
I had one of these in my life. It is a horrible feeling knowing that a person you love and trust has been manipulating you to get their way. These friends know you inside out and use it to their advantage. They move their friends around like chess pieces so that things fall in their favor. My ex-friend would pit a friend she had a problem with against another friend so that she didn’t have to have an argument with the friend she had a problem with. This way when they fought, she could be the ‘neutral’ and ‘good’ friend. It’s horrid behavior and honestly you don’t need this type of person in your life. You’ve got better things to do.

The liar friend (top image)
Nothing is worse than the liar friend (except perhaps the manipulative friend). This person lies for no apparent reason and justifies it in their heads. You can never trust this person because if he’s lying to others you can sure as hell bet he’s lying to you!

It’s going to be hard to let these people go, but you’re going to have to buck up and do it. After all, life is short, so surround yourself with worthy people!

3 Comments

  1. The liar friend shouldn’t be a friend to begin with.

  2. I learned a simple lesson a long while ago. Surround yourself with the people you want to be like. The people you spend time with shape who you are like it or not.

  3. Good observation, Jake! I just started this “clean-up” last year. How about the methods of letting go? You cannot just go to them and declare that this is the end, as they will never understand/admit to being this or that type and having a negative effect on you. So I guess you will just have to let them go slowly, by simply not calling/spending more time around them.