Bad influences never have favorites, it can be masked behind a great friendship or a deeply loving relationship. Some people never know that they’re being controlled by bad influences, because it can be hidden in a friendship that looks good on the surface, or it can be found in the vulnerable moments in a relationship. The scary thing is that bad influences can be buried underneath the actions, words and love that you experience every day.
Sometimes detecting bad influences in friendships aren’t easy, nor are the major signs obvious. It can be especially hard to pick up on whether your close friendships are a bad influence on you. A lot of the times when you’re close to someone, trying to evaluate their behaviors and actions can be hard because of the fact that you have become immune to their personality.
If you’re not careful, you can suffer mentally, emotionally and sometimes even physical abuse from friends that have a bad influence on you. In any given year, an estimated 26.2 percent of those 18 and older (or one in every four adults) suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in the United States.
In life, depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues could be something that you might face. Almost 7 percent of adults in the United States live with depression. And 2.6 percent live with bipolar disorder, and this is not counting children.
With mental health issues on the rise, it’s important to know the influences of the people in your life. Here are some key components that you want to keep in mind to test if your friends have a bad influence on you.
Sign #1: If you don’t feel supported for the “real you” when you’re around your friends, then you might need to find new friends. When you don’t feel that your friends are open to your ideas or like the person that you are, then you probably need to rethink your friendship with them. If your friends aren’t supportive of you or your awesome ideas, then they aren’t accepting the “real” you. This can be problematic for you because you’re not connecting with your friends in a “real” way. If you continue nurturing friendship like this, you could be damaging your self-confidence leaving you to feel emotionally drained.
Sign #2: Do your friends stir up negativity everywhere they go? If they do, you might need to reevaluate your constant interaction with them. If your friends always have something bad to say about a person, place, or an event then it probably means that this could lead to bigger issues in your friendship that could eventually affect your mental health and stability.
Sign #3: Are you feeling that you can be the best version of yourself when you are with your friends? Do you feel the most encouraged, healthiest, motivated, inspired and innovative? You see, it’s what you’re doing in the company of your friends that will define your success in life. If your friends are constantly involved with binge drinking, drug abuse, toxic behaviors and engaging in fights and excessively obsessing over money and social status, then you will lean more towards damaging behaviors instead of positive behaviors. Rule of thumb is to hang around people that you want to eventually become.
Sign # 4: You don’t need fake friends, so if you’re currently hanging out with friends that act one way when they are in face-to-face situations with you, but then the moment that you’re not around them, they say negative things about you. It’s time to leave those “FAKE” friends behind, you want to leave them far behind. You will never able to have a “real” friendship with them, nor will you be able to trust a fake friend with your wellbeing.
Sign #5: Clingy friends can be too much work and energy! If you have a friend that’s constantly wanting you to “only” spend time with them all the time, not allowing you to hang out with your other friends, then you want cut ties with this person. Clingy personalities often times only want to be around you all the time, and they get jealous when you hang out with other friends. But it’s “ok” for them to hang out with other people when you’re not around. If you currently have friends like this, you might want to put an end to the friendship.
Sign #6: Do you have friends that only appear when they need something from you? Well, if you do, then you have friends that are opportunistic looking for the moment when they can benefit from having you as a friend. The opportunistic person doesn’t value you as a friend, they only want to come around when they can get something from you. No one wants to be friends with someone that only wants to use them.
Finding the right friendships can sometimes be more of a dream than a reality. But when you find the right friend or friends, it tends to make living life a little easier.