The people we surround ourselves with have a profound effect on how our life progresses. With the right crowd, we feel happy, motivated, confident, and mentally healthy. The wrong kind of people though can sap our energy and confidence. So here are 8 people we should stay away from if we want to be happy.

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1.    The Jealous

Being jealous is different from being envious. Envy is longing for another’s possession, jealousy is wishing for them to lose what they have. We can see how jealousy is such a toxic trait. Who would want to be around someone wishing for the demise of others? Jealous people also don’t shy away from sabotaging the progress of others if they can.

2.    The Victim

Victims are people who always blame others for their misfortunes. They can be difficult to abandon mainly because we feel sorry for them. Victims never take responsibility and are always looking for someone to blame. Constant complaining is another common trait found in such people.

3.    The Bully

It’s a no-brainer that we should avoid bullies. Bullies aren’t necessarily people who cause physical harm. Emotional bullies are just as bad. Emotional bullies get pleasure from inflicting emotional pain onto others. No matter how close we are to someone, we should never tolerate bullying.

4.    The Naysayer

Naysayers are people who discourage us from working towards our goals. They may do it out of jealousy or concern, but the reason behind is usually the same: they don’t believe in us. Working towards our goals is a hard enough job in itself. Instead of helping and encouraging us, naysayers tell us to give up. If we want to achieve anything in life, shutting off naysayers should be our priority.

5.    The Compulsive Liar

Telling harmless lies sometimes is ok. However, people who lie as a habit can harm those around them. We should avoid adding compulsive liars to our circles. Liars can’t be trusted and it isn’t wise to be friends with someone we can’t trust.

6.    The Critic

Critics are people who find fault in everything. No matter how good we are, or how well we perform, nothing is ever good enough for them. We often try excessively hard to please them. Eventually losing confidence when we can’t perform up to their standards.

7.    The Gossiper

Gossipers are always looking for other people’s personal information. Gossipers are dangerous because sharing our secrets with them basically means telling the whole world. They can’t be trusted to keep anything to themselves and such people should always be avoided.

8.    The User

These are the people who only talk to us when they need something. While they may not be the worst of the bunch, the fact that they only need us for favors makes them unreliable. It may sound selfish, but we should get rid of users from our lives because, over time, we’ll do more for them than they will ever do for us.