During life, each of us encounters completely different people. Some of them arouse our sympathy, some – not. Practical psychologist talks about the basic rules of communication with people with whom you feel uncomfortable.
Constant communication with toxic people can:
negatively affect your emotional state;
destroy faith in yourself, your beliefs, goals;
cause a feeling of desolation and inability to do anything;
contribute to the emergence of conflicts between you and your environment.
It seems that the ideal option in this case is to completely stop all interaction with this person. And this is true, but it is far from always possible to do so, because quite often your colleagues, boss, teammate or relative can be toxic.
The following recommendations can make your life easier if, for one reason or another, you are unable to avoid toxic communication:
Do not expect changes from such a person
It is much easier to build a dialogue when you clearly understand that the toxic interlocutor is unlikely to ever behave differently. Draw clear boundaries, because a toxic person’s favorite pastime is to push with their emotions and violate the personal space of others. Discard politeness and mark the limits of what is acceptable.
Take control of the conversation
Toxic people are skilled manipulators, so, understanding this, follow the direction of the conversation so as not to fall into a trap. It is not as difficult as it seems. For example, you can cleverly change the topic of the conversation to cool down the interlocutor. Do not give clear answers to uncomfortable questions.
Be discreet
Toxic people love to trap others in a “funnel of negative emotions.” If you fall into it, you will become a victim of provocations and you will respond with negativity for negativity. And therefore — lose your balance.
Be straightforward
A clear formulation of one’s position very often scares toxic people. Openly say that you are not satisfied.
Filter information about yourself
Toxic people are often “overly open”. This is one of the techniques that tries to break into trust. And it’s perfectly normal to want to be frank in return. But remember that the personal information you provide can later be used against you. Reduce the duration of communication if you cannot completely give it up. Try to empathize with toxic people, because they were not born this way, but for one reason or another they did not learn to meet their needs in an ecological way.
By understanding this, you will first of all help yourself not to become a victim of provocations and to distance yourself from such a person with a feeling of compassion, not anger, hatred, or irritation.
