Good friends can be like members of your family.
When you find friends like that, hold on tight.
Unfortunately, not all are.
Some are toxic not good for you and, honestly, probably not great for the other person either.
Good relationships focus on both friends when needed.
No one wants to feel like they’re the cause of everything bad.
“That is the moment you know that this relationship is toxic or even abusive,” Cheng explained.
It’s important that your friends are responsible for their own lives.
Toxic friends, however, look at life and friendships as a competition.
If you’re doing well, they focus on the fact that they’re not doing as well.
They get jealous and let their jealousy interfere with their ability to be a supportive friend.
The emotional stability of the relationship
Friendship shouldn’t be an emotional rollercoaster.
Good friends don’t make everything a crisis.
With toxic friends, however, you never really feel like you’re on stable ground.
“You have to have that chemistry where it just feels good,” Zakeri said.
“There’s maybe a banter or a comfort level[with a good friend].”
Toxic friends weigh you down.
“Do you feel uplifted or do you feel completely just exhausted?”
The student felt uncomfortable and frustrated.
“She started to kind of establish some boundaries with this friend,” Cheng said.
“The basis of every relationship is a sense of trust and safety.
If you and your friend cannot do that, the relationship might be more toxic than you thought.
I think that is a sign of a healthy friendship,” Zangara shared.
The blame in a disagreement is never entirely any one person’s fault.
You should also be able to respectfully disagree with the other person, but still be friends.
You want to believe that your friends are on your team, and good friends true friends actually are.
