Friendships are beautiful and they feed your soul. They bring you happiness and companionship, and they are life supports. You will agree when we say that a friendship is one of the most meaningful relationships you can have. They are life supports, and rightfully take precedence over even romantic relationships. But the beauty of friendship can, unfortunately, blindside you. And before you know it, you have entered the realm of toxic friendship.

The signs can be relatively simple or glaringly obvious, but the fact remains that friendships are precious and your mind does its best to make sure you view your friends in the most positive light to prevent any hurt on either side. So what are some of the signs you can look out for? We are going to discuss them in this article so stay tuned! If Your Partner Distances Herself from All her Friends for You, What Should You Do?

Let's start simple- friendships are give and take. That means for all the love you give, you should receive a fair amount too. No. we are not asking you to become a selfish person. But to truly experience the joys of friendship, your friend must be invested in the friendship too. And they do this by patiently listening to what you have to say and offering you love, support or even advice. A toxic friend would twist the narrative and make it all about themselves. It doesn't matter that you brought up a problem and you desperately need their support- somehow, the problem is now about them and they will give you an earful about how it's affecting them rather than listening to you. Toxic much?

Everything is a competition somehow. You got a promotion? They got a bigger promotion so only they deserve praise and you clearly don't. You won a prize? So? They win prizes all the time and this is why you somehow don't deserve any praise. Your friends at the very least are supposed to be your biggest cheerleaders, they aren't supposed to behave like aggressive competitors just looking to one-up you. A good friend would celebrate your victories and not minimize them. Signs That He Is Toxic for You: Does He NOT Make You Feel Good About Yourself? Read Why You Need to Walk Out of The Relationship.

Toxic friends would never compliment you. Instead, they would take that opportunity to put you down. They revel in how small they make you feel, and your self-confidence becomes their biggest enemy.

There are some things that are off-limits even in the best of friends. This is why boundaries exist, in friendships too. A toxic friend would choose to willingly not acknowledge your boundaries, and instead, use them to make you uncomfortable. They would show blatant jealousy when it came to your other friends and would make you feel bad for having other friends besides them. Now, we understand that a best friend is bound to feel jealous when their best friend has multiple 'best friends'. What isn't normal is to try to scare away the other best friends, or to make it seem like you owe them somehow and that's why you shouldn't have more best friends.

Now, these are red flags you can easily notice and take appropriate action against. So make sure to do so. Cut off that toxic friend before they drain your energy too!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 26, 2021 11:19 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).