5 Ways to deal with toxic people

Toxic people ‘defy logic’. Some of them are unaware of their negative impact on others and others derive pleasure in causing chaos and pushing others to the edge. Because toxic people are so difficult to understand, it generally makes it difficult to effectively deal with them. Here are 5 ways to push through this difficulty and effectively deal with toxic people.

Know Your Weakness

You need to recognize what makes you weak and susceptible to the wiles of toxic people. The moment you understand what it is about a toxic person that affects you so much, it will immediately be easier to deal with the problem. It also gives you an opportunity to work on yourself so no other can get to you through that ‘route’ again.

Set Limits

Set limits with people you consider as toxic and distance yourself from them when necessary. Think of it this way: someone is smoking in front of you and you move away from the second-hand smoke. You move away to save yourself from health problems related to something you didn’t even initiate. Setting limits can involve communicating with the person to desist from provocative and toxic behaviours etc.

Emotionally Detach Yourself

Most times the behaviours of toxic people go against reason. You should understand that you can’t beat a toxic person at their own game, you’ll get sucked in. You have to rise above it all, emotionally distance yourself from the situation and remove yourself from their traps. Approach interactions with toxic people like a ‘science project’ – deal only with facts, logic and reason, keep emotions out of it.

Be Aware of Your Emotions

Emotionally detaching yourself from a situation involves being aware of your current emotional state. It involves ignoring whatever emotions you feel about the situation and remaining logical enough to recognize the current situation for what it actually is. If you feel you are losing control of your emotions, step back from it all and give yourself a break to buy yourself time to get a grip and find the best way to move forward with the situation and person. At this point, depending on its effect on you, you might decide that distancing yourself from the person might be best.

Don’t Fixate

Stop thinking of how troubling or difficult a person is. Fixating on how crazy or toxic a person is can, in an interesting twist, turn you into an equally toxic person. You should focus instead on how you are going to effectively deal with and handle them. Focus on more on the actions you are going to take to better yourself and circumstances. Focusing on the solutions helps produce positive emotions that help to reduce your initial stress.