Cut Toxic Elements Out of Your Life

Credit: Unsplash
Sometimes, you just gotta say sayonara.

When you’ve lived for a long time and have an ingrained routine and habits, it can be a real groaner to have to change those habits. Living the way you live hasn’t killed you yet, so why bother making changes? The thing is, nobody is an absolute master of making decisions. Even when we stick to something that might not be good for us, we keep on going because it’s what we’re used to, because it’s familiar. If you feel as though your life is peppered with too many negatives, there may be a toxic influence in your life, be it a thing, a habit, or a person.

Now, I’m not telling you to start over-analyzing all of your relationships with friends and family. That’s a great way to drive yourself crazy. But whenever you start feeling down, take a second to ground yourself, and then ask “where is this coming from?” Is it internal? Did someone instigate this feeling in you somehow? If someone is hitting you with negativity on a regular basis, you need to do something about it. You don’t have to cut them off entirely right away, but you should make it clear to them that what they’re doing is hurting you. If they really care about you, they’ll stop, or at least try to work something out with you. If they won’t compromise, you might just need to stop interacting with this person.

If your negativity is internal, consider your habits. What do you typically spend a day doing? What are you eating? Certain habits, even innocuous ones, can have detrimental effects on your mental state if performed in excess, like hyper-focused cleaning, overeating, or oversleeping. It’s not fun to take a hard look within, but at that point, your choices are to make a change, or stay miserable, and you don’t deserve that. You deserve to be happy and sound, mentally and physically.

Sometimes, you just gotta take a look inside yourself and ask “what am I willing to put up with today?” If the answer is “not this,” that’s a pretty good sign that you need a change.