I learned to walk away

Dealing with negative people is challenging because it's not always clear when to walk away. Why are people negative? Why do toxic people exist? We come to understand ourselves and see that we're capable of being negative as well. So we have sympathy for negative people. But when is it time to get a negative person out of our life? In accepting the universe we realize that negative people exist, but when is enough, enough?

A negative person pulls you down with them. It's not someone having a bad day, it's someone who's chronically negative AND unwilling to change. It's the problem with being in an unhealthy relationship. They're making life worse for you, then acting like it isn't your problem.

There's a story in the new testament, in the life of Jesus, about how to deal with negative people (discussed here). It's fascinating how well it spells out the proper time to walk away. This is what i've struggled with myself, knowing when is the time to walk away?

In the story Jesus answers when to walk away from a toxic relationship. He's describing how a Christian should deal with a negative person.

Alright look, it's horrible to work a job you hate and spend your time in a way that isn't what you want or what's best, but it's even worse to be attached to a toxic person. If you have to spend time around someone who doesn't have peace, AND REFUSES TO SEEK PEACE, there's nothing worse because they attempt to pull you down to their reality. Their seeing the world through grey glasses, they believe it's true, and they increasingly become the misery that wants company.

We don't always know when to walk away. Or, we have thoughts in our mind making excuses for why we can't walk away. We need a formula to know when to walk away. We need something that we can reference to look at and be like 'okay, there's nothing that matters now except getting away with this person. I've given them compassion I've tried to help them, but now they're at risk of pulling me down.'

What is that balance? When do we tip pass compassion and kindness and into toxicity and allowing someone to take advantage of us?

Anyway, here is the way I think about that, and why.

Enjoy