
You can save a relationship by crying yourself out or reading Wayne Dyer’s book. but friendships are always at another level. it’s like a different world with millions of characters we face that we no longer examine them like a partner, we have other social expectations and for that, we act more flexible and in the meantime, forget so many essential facts.
Having a healthy friendship is one of our vital needs, someone who kicks us out of home when we’re depressed and makes us come back with yummy snacks and a glowing smile. someone who holds us when we’re sad while cracking the most disturbingly hilarious joke ever. someone we can be true to and let them be true to us as well, a win-win situation.
On the other side, a bad friendship can ruin lives. no, I’m not trying to sound scary and make you continue reading. I have scary examples of friends who ruined lives but I don’t want to intimidate anyone so I’m not sharing. but in all those situations, whenever I looked into the victim’s eyes, I wished that someone could save them from their troubles and further suffering.
Back then I took notes whenever there was a toxic friendship around. I kept these notes to myself till I managed to clear my friendship list of toxic people because the best knowledge is the one implemented.
And here I share it with you now.
Let’s find out who are these wolves in sheep’s clothing:
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Those who lie to get your attention and validity:
they strive to win you over but in the wrong way. you can spot them when they say something and act otherwise, or once they say the opposite a while later. they make you live a lie and perhaps manipulate your feelings for others too.
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Those who gossip more than bond :
These people get close to you to extract your personal details and then gossip about it with others. there’s a big chance they gossip about others with you too. overall, you never hear them expressing themselves and you won’t get a chance either.
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Social media kings and queens:
We all know some friends who think their life is so special as well as themselves. they live most of their life on social media presenting their advantages and as soon as they get into problems, they disappear.
These people never message you and thank you for your gift, they post a story about it on Instagram and guess what, you can’t thank them directly either. you have to share their story and write a “you’re welcome” message on it! how crazy is that? well, it can get crazier, these people can totally ignore your gift or even “yourself” if your gift is not expensive enough or you don’t live the same fake life as they do.
They live in a matrix with no real human interaction. you shouldn’t be bothered if they never care for you during hard times, but they will be the first to show up if you’re throwing a party. everything is just for display.
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Those who think they’re better than you:
it’s great when a friend boosts you up and takes you higher but that doesn’t mean they should be better than you to do that. a friend can be in a horrible situation and still make a big impression on your life. but those who see themselves better in all ways, such as race, religion, physical attraction, financial status, etc are the worst you can rely on. they’re like snakes that can sting you any moment and worse than that, they always make you feel less of a human. they’re toxic for your confidence.
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Those who have two sides:
Sadly, some people just keep us around because they need us. once they’re done with us then they throw us away and move to the next person. they remain their best as long as they need us and once they’re done, they become strangers to us.
I know friendship is not like a romantic relationship and there is no strict commitment, but there has to be a little respect and mutual happiness intended, rather than being replaced like a drained battery.
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Those who customize their compassion:
I used to have friends who didn’t care for my situation while if someone else was having a similar struggle, they would help. I used to feel so bad because it made me realize that I’m the problem, not them. if you can’t receive a basic friendly trait from someone, then you might as well remove them from your list of friends.
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Those who disrespect you in public:
It’s 2023 and there are still people who get carried away in a bigger crowd, they prefer to be validated by others rather than you; one person and they do it in meaningful ways to show they have separated ways with you. out of the blue, they might bring up an old secret that you told them a long time ago or they judge you for something funny that you did and they all do that with a smile on and expect others to laugh too. while when they’re just with you, they act as if no such thing has happened.
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Those who envy your life:
They are the most toxic people to befriend with. they are the reason that envy has become one of the seven deadly sins.
Envious people might get close to you to either copy your life or torture themselves even more by comparing more details of your life with their lives. in both cases, they’re up to no good. their friendship is not real. they just keep you around waiting for a chance to receive something valuable from you.
not all of these people certainly look for privileged or rich people, sometimes they are the rich or the privileged! they keep you around to make you envy them because you have something they don’t and they are disturbed by that. it doesn’t have to be something big, it’s about what they can’t have. they can’t take it when you have something money can buy, totally not a real friend’s attitude.
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Those who take without giving:
it’s very simple, but hard to notice. once you look back and see that your life has become messier since you made a new friend, you’ll see how that affects you. they come to you for everything, from neighbor issues to no sim service, and it’s you who can fix it. that can be okay if you like challenges, but some of them can be very selfish and just demand anything anytime and never return the favor. I know some of them and how they acted like they were the boss and I’m the employee after a while! there’s no friendship in that!
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: Edgar Perez on Unsplash





