Loving people can be hard. Whether it is platonic or romantic, people come and go, and sometimes it is best to let people go.

When it comes down to the hard decision of whether or not to let someone go, it is best to think of the toxicity that their presence brings into your life.

Do they present you with more good or bad times? And no, not those perfect memories that you have with them from that one time a few months ago, but right now. How do they currently make you feel? Throughout my entire life, I have been in plenty of toxic relationships. As much as they hurt me at the time, I came out of every one of them much happier with my decision to let them go.

There is a stigma that if you can't make a relationship last, there is a problem with you. However, as we grow and change, some people simply don't fit into our lives anymore, and that is perfectly healthy.

There are many signs that tell us if a person needs to be cut out of our life. These include those who do all the taking but never give; those who are always absent when we need them most; those who manipulate; those who try to change; those who are jealous; those who lie, and those who simply grow apart from us.

If any of these have happened, it might be time for you to make that decision to move on and cut that person out of your life. Now, I'm not telling you this is going to be easy; it's not. But, I can tell you that this decision can be extremely rewarding and worth it.

In fact, sometimes the best thing for you is to sever the relationship that's bringing you down. The people surrounding you are meant to help your stress, not increase it.

Your choice to end a relationship is one of the bravest and toughest choices you can make. At first, you will probably feel like you screwed up. But at the end of the day, the friends who stick by you are the ones you want you to keep.

You are who you surround yourself with.

Not every part of your goodbye has to be bitter. In my experience, the best way to preserve the memory is to have a few moments you can look back on and say "the best thing I learned/gained from ____________ is ____________." That way, you'll never completely regret going into the relationship in the first place. Whether it's a life lesson or a silly favorite restaurant this person introduced you to, you will thank yourself for having a token of good faith.