Member-only story
Surviving a Toxic Friendship
A story of recovery and growth with actionable takeaways
As a child, I became friends with a girl who would be the most abusive person I have encountered, to date, in my life.
The mental and sometimes physical abuse started in elementary school. She wanted me to believe I was nothing without her.
She succeeded.
The Formation of a Toxic Friendship
Toxic people unfortunately don’t come with a warning label.
My 7-year-old self didn’t recognize the blaring red flags indicating toxicity.
My friend could be a lot of fun. We loved playing Barbies, even when we were old enough we felt the need to hide it.
We also made up all kinds of adventures to go on at each other’s houses.
In the meantime, she was tearing down my self-esteem every chance she got. At school, she talked about me behind my back and spread rumors that I would only find out about later.
One day I left school early for a doctor’s appointment and she called me that evening to say that she and others in our class talked and that “people” were starting not to like me.
