There comes a time when you realize that that one friend who everyone has been telling you to drop, has to be dropped immediately. It kind of makes me sad when I finally come to the realization that they are, indeed, a toxic force in my life and personal growth, especially when I’ve spent copious amounts of time defending them. Maybe it’s because I hate being wrong, and I pride myself on having a good judge of character, but it is the saddest thing ever when you realize that everyone was right about them. And they have to go.
Toxicity among friends is hard to detect, especially when you don’t realize until after something major happens between the two of you. While small signs might have been there early on in the friendship, you tend to dismiss them as minor irks. You develop sort of a profile, if you will, on their behavior; the small things that set them off, the irritating way they seem to always be on the defensive, the way they find any and everything to complain about in a social setting. More often than not, everyone else picks up on these things and decides not to put up with them. I tend to be the person who always says, “Yeah, but—“, and I always end up being the last person to cut them off. Nevertheless, no matter how much I loved them at one point, I am so unbelievably sick of their sh*t. You have got to go, sis.
I believe in giving people a chance to change. If I’ve built any sort of relationship with you, I genuinely believe the best in you. However, my faith can only go so far. College is already stressful without worrying about the friend who is always storming off because she isn’t getting her way. We’re also grown, and at some point, toxic behavior equates to, “I am incapable of being an adult, in an adult setting”. And absolutely nobody has time for that.