Breaking Out From Toxic Association
The circle you keep will shape your future. One of my mentors once said that "you are shaped after the image of your friends." What this means is that your association provides the soil upon which you plant your life. In natural agriculture, you will agree with me that a seed will only grow well when it is planted on a good soil. But if it is planted on a bad soil, it will stunt the growth. In the same way, when you stay with the right people, you will make positive progress. But if you stay with toxic people, it will negatively impact you - it can sap your energy, limit your potentials, and even diminish your confidence.
There are some heights you may not get to in life and some things you may not achieve until you break off from certain people. It does not matter how strong you may think you are, if you constantly and continuously stay or walk with people who pull you down, you may not rise up in life. Anyone who comes into your life will definitely affect or influence you. If they are not doing so positively, then you should know that they are already doing so negatively - no neutrality. If you notice that an association is not benefiting you in anyway, then you need to cut it off. Just to let you know; even though you are to love everyone, yet not everyone can be your associate or your friend. Choose your association wisely.
It is worthy to note that there are some people who are stuck in life or in one phase, not because they do not have talents, nor because they lack the required opportunity, but because they are with the wrong people or they are in a toxic association. Toxic association can come in various ways; like friends who always downplay your efforts, who discourage your dreams, or people who have normalized bad habits, or people who belittle you at any slightest opportunity, etc. The ironic part of this is that some of these people may even smile with you in your presence, but deep behind the smile is a deep-seated seed of doubt and negativity. Each time you notice that an association is negatively impacting on your dreams or your efforts, then you have to break free from it.
Breaking free from a toxic association may not be as easy as it seems because the association may carry a guise of care and comfort zone. Sometimes you may even want to convince yourself that you have known them for years and you do not want to leave them, or that you may feel lonely if you leave them. But the truth is that it is actually far better that you walk alone in the right direction than to walk in the company of toxic and wrong crowd. You cannot arrive at the right destination if you are with the people going the wrong direction. You have a purpose to fulfill, and if your association wants to cut you off from fulfilling it, then you better cut them off.
You have to break free from toxic association in order to make way for the right people to come into your life. That is, the people who will inspire you, who will motivate you, who will mean well for you, who will challenge you to become better, and who will celebrate your wins. The path may seem a bit lonely at the initial, but soon, the right people will replace the wrong ones. Do not allow everyone into your life, and do not welcome toxicity. You do not have an infinite lifespan to waste it on people with negative energy. Trust me, the time you spend with toxic people is actually a minus, not a plus. Learn to invest in meaningful association, impactful friendship, and live a life of purpose.
A point you need to note is that breaking off from a toxic association does not mean harshly cutting people off or being rude to them. Sometimes, it can just be something as little as creating personal boundaries, deciding how much of your time, energy, resources, and emotions you channel to them. When you limit your presence and your availability to them, the power they have over you will also reduce until it phases out. When you master this, you will be surprised how peaceful your life will become, and you will begin to experience unprecedented growth.
Thanks for reading
