I'm writing this to you to tell you not to settle.

Do not settle for the job you hate, an awful boss, a crappy relationship, or whatever it may be in your life.

In my life, I believe in not settling for bad friendships or bad relationships.

By "bad" I don't mean that in a childish way, I mean it as in they are tearing you down whether you realize it or not. These people are also known by the name of "toxic". They are people who play on your weaknesses and get pleasure out of seeing you fail.

Avoid these people at all costs.

Dr. Jane Bluestein, from Instructional Support Services Inc., gives a few examples of healthy vs. unhealthy friendships here:

"Healthy friendships are based on mutual respect. In unhealthy friendships people ridicule one another, gossip or spread rumors, or act mean to one another. Healthy friendships allow each other to grow and change. Unhealthy friendships are threatened when one person grows or changes."

Find people in your life that set a fire inside of you and keep it lit even on cold nights.

I believe it is so important to have positive people in your circle.

Letting go of someone toxic in our lives is not easy. But it is necessary.

Like most people I have dealt with toxic people throughout my entire life. When I finally did get the courage to get away from an unhealthy friendship/relationship I noticed my life change in a positive way.

Below I am going to talk about the top 5 things you will notice when you eliminate toxic people from your life:

1. A weight being lifted

The first step of letting go is the hardest part and you got that over with. You may even feel lighter because you don't have the constant negativity around you.

2. Joy

This is not instant. Letting go of people is hard. Really hard.

Joy may not come the moment you cut a toxic person out of your life but it will come.

3. A sense of worth

Toxic people like to control people and have power over you. When we get involved with people who bring us down we forget how truly amazing we are. You will begin to realize that you are important and a lot of people do care about you.

4. Freedom

You are no longer under their control. Freedom is something you will continue to feel until you let them back in your life. Down the road you may want to let them back in your life because you think they have "changed". This is a mistake. Stay true to yourself.

If you tell them they can't be in your life then it's settled, they are not in your life and therefore, they no longer have any power over you. You are free.

5. Strength

You survived. All those times you thought you would be lost without this person seem crazy because you made it through this hard time.

One of my favorite quotes says: "If you took away the pain they caused you, you would lose the strength that you gained from it all."

No one can ever take that strength away from you.

I want to make a disclosure that these things do not happen the moment you eliminate someone toxic from your life. They are a process and I have felt each of them at different times and in different ways.

So, choose to have positive, uplifting friends who challenge you and make you be the best version of yourself.

Choose you. Choose positivity.

Till next time.

LB