Managing Toxic Relationships for Emotional Well-being

Many people experience toxic relationships at one point or another. You may make a new friend who you later learn talks behind your back. Or you begin a new and exciting relationship to discover that this person pursues other people when you are not around.

No matter the degree of toxicity, toxic relationships can be damaging to emotional health. Learning ways to avoid toxic relationships and heal from them can help you move forward in your recovery and identify the types of relationships you want and need.

How to Avoid a Toxic Relationship

To avoid a toxic relationship, it’s essential to recognize the early warning signs, such as a lack of respect, constant negativity, controlling behaviors, and a persistent imbalance of effort. Establishing strong personal boundaries and adhering to them can protect your well-being. Prioritize open and honest communication with potential partners, and trust your instincts—if something is off, it may be a sign to step back. Seek relationships that promote mutual respect, support, and growth, and spend time understanding your own values and what you truly seek in a partnership. Nurturing self-awareness and self-esteem can help you make healthier choices in relationships and steer clear of toxic dynamics.

Assessing A Relationship for Toxicity

When trying to pinpoint a toxic relationship, it may be easiest to look into the impact the relationship has on you and your well-being. To do this, it is essential to trust your gut reactions and pay close attention to how you feel when you are with specific people.

Some questions that can help you assess and avoid toxic relationships include: 

How Do You Feel When You Are With Them?

Asking yourself this question is one of the easiest ways to tell if people are healthy or unhealthy for you. If being with a specific friend, family member, or partner makes you feel inadequate, discouraged, stupid, ashamed, or otherwise bad about yourself, they are most likely a toxic person that is causing trauma in your life.

Are You Your Best Self When You Are in Their Company?

Some people bring out the best in us. For example, when you spend time with your closest friend, you may feel intelligent, interesting, and capable. You make smart decisions and have confidence in the person you are.

However, toxic people tend to bring out the worst in us. These people may purposefully try to bring out the less pleasant sides of your personality; for example, they may encourage you to engage in substance abuse. If you find that you do not like the person you are with a specific friend, family member, or partner, you may have a toxic relationship.

When You Aren’t With Them, How Do You Feel?

When in a toxic relationship, the other person may leave you feeling drained and in pain. On the other hand, healthy relationships often leave you feeling refreshed and happy.

There are three types of people in relationships:

• “Energy Vampires:” These types of people leave you feeling as if they have sucked the happiness out of you. When you leave their company, you may feel drained and exhausted. If you consistently feel this way after spending time with a person, you may be in a toxic relationship.
• “Put-Down Artists:” These types of people will make jokes at your expense or subtly devalue you. After you spend time with them, you always feel worse about yourself. If somebody you are in a relationship with makes you feel this way, you are in a toxic relationship.
• “Enliveners:” These types of people leave you feeling energized and better than before you spent time with them. This feeling is typically indicative of a healthy relationship.

How to Leave a Toxic Relationship

It can be complicated to leave a toxic relationship. Some things that may make the process easier for you include:

Building a Safety Net

If you are thinking of leaving a toxic relationship, make a plan for how you are going to deal with the transition. If the relationship is with a romantic partner you live with, where will you stay once you end the relationship? What possessions will you need to bring along? This process should be well thought out.

Surround Yourself With Positive Friends and Family

Your friends and family are most often there to support you. Once you decide to leave a relationship, these people can be there for you every step of the way. They can give you courage and show you what life can look like outside of this relationship.

Healing From Unhealthy Relationships

Toxic relationships are harmful to everyone involved and can cause long-lasting damage, like suffering from betrayal trauma, even after leaving the relationship or lover behind. The pain this type of relationship can cause can lead to depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and more. The chronic emotional and mental stress of being surrounded by a toxic individual can take a toll on your mental health.

Recognizing that you are in a toxic relationship is the first step to improving your mental health. The second step is leaving that relationship. The final step to bettering yourself is making sure you are dealing with your internal, mental, and emotional pain in a positive manner.

Ways you can take care of yourself after leaving a toxic relationship include:

• Surrounding yourself with positive people that love you
• Maintaining a good and consistent support group
• Practicing self-care
• Not allowing feelings of regret or self-doubt to manifest regularly
• Taking time for yourself before diving back into another dating relationship
• Talking about your feelings with friends or in therapy

If you fear leaving a toxic relationship on your own, it may be time to seek help from a mental health professional.

Avoid Toxic Relationships With The Help of Sabino Recovery 

Toxic relationships can happen to anyone. It is crucial to be able to recognize these types of relationships and leave them behind, as they can cause long-lasting damage to your emotional and mental health. Recognizing, leaving behind, avoiding, and healing from toxic relationships can all be challenging tasks.

At Sabino Recovery, we want to help you build solid connections without toxic influences. Our team helps provide resources and ideas to support ongoing recovery. We know that addiction recovery is a life-changing opportunity, and relationships will have positive and negative influences. When you build a positive relationship and a connection-based recovery plan with Sabino Recovery, you will know that your support group and our team will be here for you throughout. If you or a loved one are struggling with mental health disorders, addiction, or trauma alongside toxic relationships, Sabino Recovery is here to help. For more information on establishing healthy relationships, call Sabino Recovery today.