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Red Flags: Friendships

Red Flags.

I think I repeat this every day to at least one person around me.

Red flags are SO important.

Whether it is at your workplace, with your friends or in your relationships: have you ever been in a situation where you knew what the outcome would likely be, but you ignored your gut and now you’re learning a tough lesson?

I call it a red flag. Let’s look at this from a particular angle.

Different Types Of Friends

I feel like friendship is a good example to use for red flags, due to seeing the same cycle happening to so many young people around me. Young people are getting into toxic friendships that are honestly not necessary, we forget that we do not need to constantly have companionship; sometimes introspection is good and even your oldest friends could be giving off detrimental vibes. The longer you’ve known a person, the harder it will be to come to terms with the violations that they may be making you endure.

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There are two types of friends we pick up through life. There are the ones who always remain constant, and the ones who come and go. Some of us cannot go through every stage of life with our “constants” so we pick up temporary friends, when we hit a certain age it becomes harder to keep long-term friendships.

The loyalty always remains with the constants. If you feel like you’re friend is treating you less than you’re worth, acting fake or lying a lot, then these red flags indicate that the respect your friend may have once had for you is either going or was never there to begin with. This tends to happen with friends we see as temporary, as we do not care about losing them.

How They Manipulate You

Emotional manipulators. They use what they are always “going through” to justify the way they treat you. They always expect you to be there as moral support, regardless of what issues you have of your own. They didn’t ask you about your day or if you are okay, the first thing that comes out of their mouth is the newest problem they have.

The other kind of manipulation I’ve seen is if your friend uses your insecurities against you, to make you feel more of a lesser person than you are in order to make themselves feel better. These type of friends are usually envious towards kind hearted people, or those who attract people in a positive way.

Image via Sean Loyless

Keep Your Circle Small

From experience I will say that it is always good to have a friend to speak to when you are going through really low and dark times, as having moral support is key.

There are so many people out there that have nothing but genuine and good intentions for you, no matter how small this may make your circle, don’t overlook these ones; believe me, once these friends enter your life it can bring changes to you, and bring out sides of you that you never knew you had.

Stay woke.