Toxicity

Many times in our lives we go through difficult times due to the toxicity of both people and situations.

We tend to listen to the opinions of others and act based on their experiences or demands without it being what we truly desire for ourselves.

As long as concessions and tolerance towards people and situations are made consciously and with limits, there is no problem. It is also good, within the context of diversity and our common path with other people, to give space and time to achieve the best functioning of relationships.

However, there are people who have unreasonable demands, think they know everything, overstep their boundaries, become possessive, while at the same time they have the comfort of making their interlocutor feel bad if they do not meet their demands by blaming them for everything without this being true, often without them realizing it. All of this results in negative emotions (confusion, anger, anxiety) and dysfunction in relationships.

Of course, no one wants to be in a toxic environment, feel bad, and be unable to function properly, and it's best to avoid it.

But what do we do if we can't avoid it? For example, when we have toxicity at work or, even worse, in the family?

Initially, we look at our place within the toxicity. That is, if it is truly toxicity or a situation that we don't like, if we have a share of responsibility, if there is a chance that we caused it, and what we want to change.

Then we discuss the situation with the people we consider to be toxic in our environment and re-establish boundaries and rules where possible.

If the people we are dealing with are not truly toxic, they will take steps to correct and improve the situation. If they are toxic, they will continue to behave in the same way, and then it is up to us to do what we consider right for our own proper functioning and mental health.

The best thing we can do when it is not possible to avoid toxicity is to keep our distance. This way we can identify it and deal with it better. To set limits on ourselves and not allow it to affect us to a large extent and destroy our psychological state. Toxicity will always exist, the less it affects us, the more health and well-being we will have.

And that is in our hands!