Have you ever dealt with someone who always leaves you feeling drained?
Or maybe the friend who constantly makes everything about himself?
We’ve all encountered “difficult” people, but what if these personalities are more than just challenging — they’re toxic?
There’s a whole world of venomous species out there, and you’ll be surprised to learn how some of these characters may be closer to home than you think.
Get ready to recognize familiar faces in your life that are not only difficult to deal with, but detrimental to your well-being. Here are seven types of people whose presence is downright toxic:
1) Self-conversation
This is what a conversation with a self-absorbed speaker (SAC) looks like:
You: “I had a terrible day at work, and I feel like my boss hates me.”
Sak: “You poor thing! I know exactly how you feel. Work has been very difficult lately. My boss is treating me very badly. Even though he promoted me recently and I am earning a lot of money, the responsibilities are very difficult, you know ?I’m completely exhausted.”
I thought it would be easier to show you an example of a SAC rather than try to explain it, because you’ve surely come across someone like this before!
Simply put, no matter what you’re going through, they’re going through something worse.
They will interrupt conversations, steal the spotlight, and leave you feeling unheard and unheard. Personally, I think they absolutely love the sound of their voices!
2) Restricted handler
Another type of people whose presence is toxic are restrictive manipulators. In other words, people who have a meltdown every time have no control over it!
You’ve probably come across someone like this; A colleague, parent, partner, or friend always wants things to be their way.
Any other method is simply wrong in their eyes.
To add insult to injury, they don’t stop there. Not only do they want to control how you do things, they want to control your opinions, desires, and much more.
I remember my aunt who would argue to the death until everyone agreed with her. She has gone so far as to monitor your opinions or persecute you for your actions.
In other words, a restrictive manipulator will make you feel suffocated until you fully agree with his or her views.
3) Emotional relationship
Otherwise known as the energy vampire!
The emotional leech is incredibly toxic because it makes you feel drained and exhausted.
So, what does a typical encounter with someone like this look like?
Imagine this:
You meet a friend. You’re excited to share some good news with them. But from the moment you sit down to have your coffee, it becomes about them and their misfortune.
For three hours, you listen as they unload their feelings on you. Every time you try to bring the conversation back to neutral territory, they redirect it back to themselves.
You get home and flop onto the couch, completely exhausted and unsure of what just happened.
With emotional leeches in your life, you’re probably keeping them because you feel sorry for them. But at the same time, you fear their company. They never provide the same support as you in return.
Does anyone come to mind?
4) The constant center of chaos
They are also known as drama kings and life queens. If you’re looking for conflict, entertainment, and general excitement, these are your people.
Just like emotional leeches, these people will drain your energy with their never-ending problems.
They will constantly come to you for sympathy and support, but your advice?
You can give it until your face is blue. They won’t accept that. Instead, they will keep repeating the same mistakes and coming back to you to help you pick up the pieces.
I’ve come to the conclusion that people like this thrive on drama and chaos.
They don’t want solutions. They don’t want a peaceful life. For them, conflict is like a tempting medicine.
That would be fine if they kept it all to themselves, but unfortunately, they tend to drag everyone else into the mix too!
5) Habit of lying
Have you noticed how some people can’t tell the truth?
If they are not outright lying, they are embellishing, exaggerating or downplaying situations.
As time goes by, you feel like you can’t trust any word that comes out of their mouths.
It’s very frustrating, and the reason is because their presence is toxic.
But that’s not all – dealing with a Habitual Liar (HL) can leave you feeling confused – sometimes they lie about things that aren’t even worth lying about!
Years ago, my cousin went in for major surgery. She needed months to recover. Another family member (HL almost since birth) decides to tell everyone that the cousin in question is in prison.
How did they come up with that? Who do you know?
Did the habitual liar benefit from this rumor? no!
It made absolutely no sense, and it was even funny. But jokes aside, their lies can have hurtful and harmful consequences.
6) The arrogant bulldozer
Ah, the arrogant bulldozer (OB). This is the type of person who will crush you and keep moving forward without looking back – they like to be right and they like to be heard.
So much so that they don’t care who is in their way.
When they want something, they’ll get it. Even if it hurts those around them.
An arrogant bulldozer will use tactics such as:
- Intimidation
- Threats
- Alarms
- Underestimation
This is how they dominate. If you have an opinion, OB will fight you to the last word to get his point across.
They tend to see others as inferior…so the OBs in your life will likely treat you with very little respect.
7) The envious critic
Finally, we turn to the envious critic. Think insecurity + jealousy. It’s a bad combination!
These people love to talk about others. They love to rule. Worse still, they project their fears onto everyone.
You know how you can watch a cute video of kittens playing with a toy, living their best life online… and there’s always one person who has something negative and nasty to say?
There’s your envious critic.
They’re the kind of friends who will say your new car isn’t cool enough. Or he or she will congratulate you on your new job while at the same time commenting that it’s a shame you’re not getting a higher salary.
