3 Ways to Protect Yourself Against Negative People

You’ve probably been around a negative person — a friend, a family member, or a co-worker. And you’ve seen how they let their negativity out. Their pessimistic views of the world, unhappiness with themselves, and generalized anxieties can often project onto you.

Your happiness is built so much on the people around you. You want to be around those who bring out the best in you. Unfortunately, negative people carry the baggage of negativity and can only bring out the worst parts.

As human beings, by nature, we’re socially wired to connect with other people. Research shows that we would rather experience a negative event with someone else who shares those experiences with us than share a pleasant event with someone who disagrees with us.

Who wants to hear comments like: “I can’t believe you’re wasting your time doing something when very few people can do it?” or “I think your ideas are bound to fail.”

Too much negativity can erode your trust in yourself and affect you emotionally. It can be so powerful as to throw you off your path.

Negative people tend to be complainers and “victims” of bad luck. If you give them a chance, they’ll waste your time and complain to you about their day or their life in general.

They cling to a belief that the world has turned against them. Instead of paying attention to themselves to find the answers to their problems, they attribute negative causes to external factors.

Here are 3 ways you can keep negative people from bringing you down.

Limit the time you spend with them

Don’t let negative people take away your energy and your time. The more you hang around negative people, the more distressing your life will be.

The less time you spend around them, the better it will be for your mental well-being. Even a simple phone conversation with a negative person can ruin your day and derail your productivity.

The best way to do it is by reducing the amount of time you spend talking to them on the phone or meeting them in person.

It’s also a good idea to avoid exchanging text messages with negative people as simple texts will affect your mind. It doesn’t mean you should avoid checking your text messages at all, but you can limit the time you spend responding to certain messages or choose to ignore some of them.

Don’t let them affect your thoughts

Often, when you interact with a negative person, you unconsciously absorb some of their negativity. Their negative view of the world will project onto you and affect your thoughts.

This means what they say to you and how they act impacts your behaviors and actions. To avoid that, you need to shield yourself and not let their views and opinions affect you.

For example, if someone disagrees with your idea strongly, they will try to convince you that your idea isn’t so great. They may try to steer you in a different direction so you change your mind.

They may tell you how they foresee your failure. Don’t let them. You can simply explain that you have it under control and that you are willing to take a risk. But don’t go out on a limb trying to explain and justify your actions to them.

Surround yourself with positive people

Positive people encourage and empower you and they don’t cast their doubts on you and try to bring you down. They fill you with inspiration.

Positive people are optimistic and help you see the brighter sides of the world. The more you surround yourself with positive people, the better you will feel about yourself.

Positive people don’t have to be physically present in your life — online connections and even reading positive books or watching positive videos can work. Every time I exchange inspirational messages with positive people, it always makes me feel good inside. It lights up my world, no matter what state of the world we live in.

You are in charge of your happiness, and you can choose with whom and how you want to spend your time.

The bottom line

Don’t let negative people bring you down in any way. You can protect yourself from their influence by:

• Minimizing the amount of time you spend with them
• Not letting them affect your mind
• Spending more time with positive people