People pushing me made me stronger. All of us have been poisoned by toxic people. It can occasionally be more of a drenching. Difficult people gravitate toward the reasonable ones, and we have all probably encountered at least one person in our lives who makes us want to wrap ourselves in barbed wire in an endless effort to please them, but we never quite manage to do so. Their subtlety and ability to elicit the well-known response, “It’s not them, it’s me,” are what cause the most harm.
You might start to wonder about your “over-reactivity,” “oversensitivity,” and “tendency to misinterpret” after talking to them. If you’re the one who’s consistently injured or changing your behavior to prevent getting hurt, then chances are that it’s not you and it’s very much them. The first step to reducing their impact is being able to recognize their harmful behavior.
If someone in your life is toxic, you may not be able to stop what they do, but you can change how you react to it and any perception that they will get away with it. There are many things toxic people do to take advantage of other people and circumstances. One day they’ll be absolutely lovely, and the next you’ll be left wondering what you did to offend them.
