Negative Friends

Here's a post from a former blog of mine that I felt was appropriate to post here:

Over the past year or so, I've noticed that there are certain friends and acquaintances in my life who frequently get on my nerves. That's okay, since friends can't always be expected to get along all the time. But at some point, I've noticed, it becomes so bad that I find myself less happy on average with them in my life than I'd be without them. Do you have friends like this?

In my view, a friend is supposed to be more than a warm body that shares an interest with you. A friend is supposed to be somewhat tolerant and non-judgmental. They're someone you can talk to and confide in. Looking over the friends I have now, I can only point out a few who exhibit these qualities.

Most of my friends are largely ego-driven. Some are always looking to one-up a story, put someone down (including me) in order to make themselves feel better about themselves, etc. I can't relate to this. One common example that's especially bothersome is this: When a friend of mine tells me an idea they have, my first instinct is to support them. With my friends, most of them have the first instinct to slam the idea down. Where does this come from? How does anyone become that way?

All of this is leading to my main point, which is that it seems that many if not most of my friends are a net negative force on my happiness. While this is sad, I think it's at least good to identify this, because from here I can actually address the issue; cutting ties with negative friends and surrounding myself with positive ones.


Do you have friends like this in your life? Have you done anything about it?