You might have heard a lot about toxic relationships but have you heard about toxic friendships? Do you have any idea how a toxic friendship can literally ruin your life? Well, if not then you should. Firstly, it is very hard to know that your friendship is toxic but what is even harder is to end that friendship after finding out about the toxicity. And the hardest is to heal yourself after all the trauma and damage caused by it.
It becomes really hard to let go of a friendship no matter how toxic it was and then heal yourself. But, it’s not impossible. So, here are some tips on how to heal after losing a toxic friend.
1. Cut off contact slowly
Sometimes it’s not that easy to cut off all contact with a friend at once. So, you can begin by cutting off contact slowly and steadily. This would really help you in getting out and getting things back on track in your life.
2. Accept it’s okay to go on separate paths
We often don’t expect friendships to end but we think that this relationship is something that is meant to go on forever. But you should know that this is not always true and as you may end things with a partner you may also end things with a friend. Nothing in your life is forever even friendships and that is completely normal. Your friendship might have come to a natural end or you might have had a fight with a friend which is impossible to solve. So, just accept what happened and move on.
3. Be direct and honest
You should always choose to be direct and honest while you are ending a relationship with anyone. This would help you and the other person as well. It would allow you to end things up honestly and without any guilt. If you choose to be dishonest even while ending things with someone, you are bound to feel guilty and you may even go on doubting and blaming yourself for what happened.
4. Allow yourself to feel
Losing a friendship no matter how toxic it was is going to hurt, you are meant to feel the loss at least for a few days or months. But it is okay, you are a human being and you are allowed to feel everything. So, don’t be harsh on yourself and allow yourself to feel.
5. Open up to other friends
You are ending something toxic because you knew it was toxic, so why not focus more on healthier relationships and better friendships in your life? If you were really trapped in a toxic friendship you might have cut contact with others or you might not be as close to others as you were earlier. So, it’s time to compensate for all that.
6. Stop expecting an apology
Do you really think you are going to get an apology from your toxic friend? Do they really ever use the word “sorry”? Well, you know the answer to that so why not do yourself a favor and stop expecting an apology of any kind from them.
7. Allow yourself to move on
We, humans, hate changes in our life, and that is something that forces us to go back to even the most toxic people in our lives. You should not go back to anyone who is toxic even if they are your friend. Just simply cut contact and allow yourself to move on.
8. Learn from what happened
Reflection on what has happened is an important part of life. You should always reflect on all the positives and negatives that you had to take from that friendship. Reflect on and learn from everything that happened.