(1) Trust your gut!

If something feels off about a person, trust your instinct! While it can be hard to figure out if someone is toxic, your gut often senses stuff is weird before your brain can figure it out

(2) Nobody is going to protect me but me

While I always wished someone would understand my situation and help me out of it, that never happened. The only way I got away from toxic environments is because I decided it was time. Nobody else will do that hard work for you, but the good news is you have the power to do it yourself.

(3) Get support as often as possible

Support can look like a lot of different things. The main idea here is that you can talk all the weird stuff out with someone trustworthy while going through toxic environments and after you have removed yourself from them.

(4) The healing process lasts long after the toxic person is out of your life.

It is a huge relief to get away from toxic people, but the truth is there is still plenty of hard healing work to do...

(1) Don't expect them to understand

Unless these family members have previous experience with toxic people, they probably aren't going to understand what you are telling them. That doesn't mean you shouldn't talk to them. It just means you need to be prepared for them to say things that reveal they don't really understand.

(2) Let them know when you are seeking advice and when you just need to vent.

Family will often try to give you advice no matter what. Given most family members aren't really going to understand what you are dealing with, you may not want to hear their advice.

We all need safe spaces to vent, so if that's what you need from your family member, just let them know that before you launch into whatever toxic person thing you need to get off your chest. That can save you heartache and take some pressure off of the family member.

(3) Choose what you do and do not talk about

Because family members are often well-meaning but don't really get what is happening with toxic...

1) Toxic people often go completely undetected by others.

This often causes those of us who know this person is toxic an immense amount of stress. Unfortunately, toxic people are really great at appearing non-toxic.

2) Toxic people are usually completely uninterested in or incapable of working on themselves

Improving yourself means acknowledging that you aren't perfect. That is not on the agenda for most toxic people.

3) All of us sometimes engage in toxic behaviors. Toxic people take that to a whole different level.

It's human to sometimes do toxic things; however, toxic people engage in this kind of behavior so often they don't even recognize that they are doing it.

4) Toxic people can often be high powered and successful individuals.

Although toxic people usually have a very low quality of life, they do not necessarily suffer in terms of their career aspirations or income goals.

5) Toxic people often attract other toxic people.

Good examples of this include the attraction between...