11 Interesting Ways to Identify a Negative Friendship ...

1. The Opportunist

An opportunist never sees the bright side; they only see what's in it for them, and this marks them as a frenemy, making it easy to identify a negative friendship with them. They utilize their methods of manipulation to take advantage of your kindness and reap all the benefits. A former friend of mine saw the opportunity to take control by baiting a man with whom I was romantically involved. He assumed I put her up to it and immediately bailed. She reinforced his assumption, and they dated for a year.

2. Me, Me, Me!

Have you ever noticed that one of your friends must remain the center of attention at all times? The truth about this friend isn't that she's confident, and everyone likes her. It's that she has extremely low self-esteem and wants the focus on her instead of you, because she feels threatened by you. When this becomes an everyday occurrence it's time to unload this toxic attention hoarder; it's your turn to shine.

3. Always the Victim; Never the Villain

Taking responsibility for one's own actions is a part of becoming a mature adult. If the constant theme with this friend is that she never does anything wrong, she is incapable of seeing her shortcomings. She is irresponsible and will eventually turn the focus of her pity party toward you, at any time that you do not agree with her completely.

4. You're All Mine

At any time that your friend tries to take control over the amount of time you spend with others, it's time to steer clear of her. This is a red flag implying clearly that she is a control freak. If you don't break this cycle early on, it will have a devastating ending. My former bestie used to text me every hour whenever she knew I was spending time with my boyfriend. Before the end of our friendship, she attempted to take control over the time my daughter spent with friends and family that were not connected to her.

5. Superiority Complex

Friends who are too afraid to just be themselves, and score friends on their own merit utilize the techniques of the superiority complex to make themselves look better than you. They discuss your private details, especially your failures, with others in an attempt to make themselves appear superior to you. In truth, they fear you and are extremely jealous of your ability to be who you are, as they are too cowardly to do so themselves.

6. They Don't Accept You!

A negative friend will never accept you for who you are. They will constantly remind you of what they perceive to be your flaws. They will never once admit that they're not perfect and accept their own flaws and address them. It will become a one-sided friendship where you feel smothered by negative commentaries and feel terrible about yourself at all times.

7. The Lack of Gumption

Toxic friends are incapable of standing up to similar friends. They're aware fully of the negative attributes of these friends, but will never stand up to them. She will take on a passive attitude toward these friends when they do something negative to you as well. The entire reason that she remains your friend is because she can manipulate you. In truth, she's highly submissive, herself, and is incapable of handling anyone who stands up to her. Show her that you do have gumption, and you won't be mistreated.

8. You Still Exist?

You can call her all day and never get a response, but the moment she needs anything you'd better morph into a super hero. Does this sound familiar? This is another sign of a one-sided friendship. She needs you to handle her responsibilities for her, but she doesn't want to repay the favor.

9. The 'Good' Samaritan

My former friend always offered to babysit for a highly negative friend of hers; each time she passed these duties off on me. She wanted the glory of 'helping' someone but none of the responsibilities. As they say no good deed goes unpunished; break this cycle now.

10. The Mooch Monster

The sad reality is that not all mooch monsters are unemployed. The underlying factor is that they just don't want to spend their own money, if they can spend yours. You always receive a story of sadden and desperation along with a list of their hardships — don't fall for it. Unload this negative friend before your credit score suffers for it.

11. The Queen B

She is controlling and manipulative. She believes that she rules every aspect of your life and will deliberately cause drama for you to get what she wants. As I learned the hard way, these toxic friends will even stoop so low as to attempt to use your children to get their way.

Negative friends will only bring you down to their level if you stick around. They will wreak havoc on your life and use you at every turn. What are some tricks you utilized to rid yourself of a negative friend?