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Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/7/2009 12:29:43 PM   
SteelofUtah


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I just don't get some people.

On a Daily Basis I find myself in situations where the input I receive from other people is Negative. They focus on what is wrong and seek to share this wrong with other people and Oddly enough it isn't because they seek understanding or even advice it would seem that want someone else to feel just as shitty about life as they do.

I understand hardship.

andi is out of work and we are struggling to make certain ends meet. Little money we have it's the big money that we don't have but sometimes bills have to wait to get paid.

My Hours at work aren't the full 40 we originally agreed on.

The Midget is in need of new things and we are making due with what we already have.

The Car I drive everyday is in need of new Tires.
I could go on and on and on. . . . . . . .  WHY?

All things considered life is pretty fucking good.

I got people in my life who love me. Set aside the two girls who call me Master and address that there are people in my life like my Mother and Father and I know they love me.

Anyone else feel like they attract the most negative people on the planet?

If so when you find that you care about them as people but can't stand their negative shit how do you distance yourself from them while also careing for their feelings. I mean these are people who are annoying the hell out of me but they are also people who have been there for me when I needed someone.

The hard part is that it seems that they just wanna STAY Miserable.

So what do you do?

Steel

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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/7/2009 12:38:49 PM   
pahunkboy


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---  when I look back on my life- even tho 40ish has its flaws- I am glad I dont have the turmoil I did in my 20s.

Life really is better.

Jenny tho has now taken up meditation. I see a difference in her.

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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/7/2009 12:57:22 PM   
ThatDamnedPanda


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quote:

ORIGINAL: SteelofUtah
Anyone else feel like they attract the most negative people on the planet?

If so when you find that you care about them as people but can't stand their negative shit how do you distance yourself from them while also careing for their feelings. I mean these are people who are annoying the hell out of me but they are also people who have been there for me when I needed someone.

The hard part is that it seems that they just wanna STAY Miserable.

So what do you do?


I just don't let people who are consistently "glass half empty" get close to me in the first place.

I'm friendly and approachable to everyone I meet, but it usually takes a while for me to get close to someone to actually consider them my friend. Quite a while, sometimes. Negativity, whining, and chronic pessimism are absolute dealbreakers to me in any personal relationship, and by the time someone gets close enough to be my friend, I've had plenty of time to sniff it out of it's there. If it is, I keep my distance and never let them get far enough inside to affect me with their negativity. It works great.


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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/7/2009 1:41:22 PM   
Level


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Steel, every time they pull the negative shit, point out good things to them. Most of them will tire of it, and go find others that will allow them to wallow like pigs in their sorrow; the few others will, to one degree or another, see the light.

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Fake the heat and scratch the itch
Skinned up knees and salty lips
Let go it's harder holding on
One more trip and I'll be gone

~~ Stone Temple Pilots

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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/7/2009 2:22:10 PM   
DemonKia


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In addition to the good thinking above I'd like to add that I occasionally find reason to clearly discuss the issue . . . . .

In the last few years I've had some bad crap go on in my life & my overall capacity to deal with negativity has gone way down. There've been a number of occasions on which I've simply told the other person that I can't deal with all their negativity & that they have to state their stuff positively or I will end up avoiding their company . . . . . . Painful confrontations, but I mostly just stayed calm & reasonable & in the space of taking care of my self so that I can care for others . . . . . Sometimes it helped the other to get some perspective, sometimes I ended up ultimately having less to do with that other person . . . . . .

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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/7/2009 3:18:05 PM   
scarlethiney


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quote:

ORIGINAL: SteelofUtah

I just don't get some people.

On a Daily Basis I find myself in situations where the input I receive from other people is Negative. They focus on what is wrong and seek to share this wrong with other people and Oddly enough it isn't because they seek understanding or even advice it would seem that want someone else to feel just as shitty about life as they do.

I understand hardship.

andi is out of work and we are struggling to make certain ends meet. Little money we have it's the big money that we don't have but sometimes bills have to wait to get paid.

My Hours at work aren't the full 40 we originally agreed on.

The Midget is in need of new things and we are making due with what we already have.

The Car I drive everyday is in need of new Tires.
I could go on and on and on. . . . . . . .  WHY?

All things considered life is pretty fucking good.

I got people in my life who love me. Set aside the two girls who call me Master and address that there are people in my life like my Mother and Father and I know they love me.

Anyone else feel like they attract the most negative people on the planet?

If so when you find that you care about them as people but can't stand their negative shit how do you distance yourself from them while also careing for their feelings. I mean these are people who are annoying the hell out of me but they are also people who have been there for me when I needed someone.

The hard part is that it seems that they just wanna STAY Miserable.

So what do you do?

Steel


First, sorry Andi is out of work.  I completely understand that challenging scenario.  Master and I had the same situation a year ago. It has worked out beautifully this year and we feel blessed to be a two pay check family again.
With regard to the people who ooze negativity. I call it like it is ............gently.   I tell them they are being the black hole of negativity and until they work through this issue I cannot be around them and then I limit my contact with them.

Steel some people "need" to be negative.
I have a co-worker who whines about literally Everything.  Her husband left her for another woman.....three years ago.
In the beginning when she cried on a daily basis, I consoled her and tried to point out all the great things about her and encourage her to move forward. Her parents paid off her house and car and all her bills so she would have nothing to worry about. She really does not need to work and frequently brags about how her pay check is her "play check".  She is leaving at the end of the month to go to Europe for 17days.  Hey, great for her. She is a very fortunate young woman. When she is being negative I am very busy and just ignore her. I refuse to participate in her whining or in her bad mouthing others or her general negativity or allow her to suck me into the black hole that is her reality.

I can not afford a 17day trip to Europe, will be paying on my car for years and my house for most of my life.
I am a thousand times  happier than this princess and would not trade my struggles or our movie and dinner out every other week for anything .
It is in my opinion all about perspective.  Some people have it, and appreciate it and some never will, no matter how hard you try to help them.  So  ..........let them go.


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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/7/2009 3:45:44 PM   
angelikaJ


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Steel,

Some people I choose to love "as is".
Some people I choose to distance myself from.

Usually what determines that is what kind of history I have with them.
And some people I just love better from a distance.
Chances are if they aren't good for me, then likely I am not so good for them either.

Some people I simply pay less attention to when they focus on the negative and more so when they are re-directable towards the positive.

I have gotten much better at presenting options instead of trying to fix.
(edit to fix spacing)

< Message edited by angelikaJ -- 9/7/2009 4:22:25 PM >


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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/7/2009 3:56:22 PM   
LookieNoNookie


Posts: 12216
Joined: 8/9/2008
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quote:

ORIGINAL: SteelofUtah

I just don't get some people.

On a Daily Basis I find myself in situations where the input I receive from other people is Negative. They focus on what is wrong and seek to share this wrong with other people and Oddly enough it isn't because they seek understanding or even advice it would seem that want someone else to feel just as shitty about life as they do.

I understand hardship.

andi is out of work and we are struggling to make certain ends meet. Little money we have it's the big money that we don't have but sometimes bills have to wait to get paid.

My Hours at work aren't the full 40 we originally agreed on.

The Midget is in need of new things and we are making due with what we already have.

The Car I drive everyday is in need of new Tires.
I could go on and on and on. . . . . . . .  WHY?

All things considered life is pretty fucking good.

I got people in my life who love me. Set aside the two girls who call me Master and address that there are people in my life like my Mother and Father and I know they love me.

Anyone else feel like they attract the most negative people on the planet?

If so when you find that you care about them as people but can't stand their negative shit how do you distance yourself from them while also careing for their feelings. I mean these are people who are annoying the hell out of me but they are also people who have been there for me when I needed someone.

The hard part is that it seems that they just wanna STAY Miserable.

So what do you do?

Steel


Personally...I pity them....because, no matter where on the spectrum you are....life.....is a shitload better than the alternative.

(Fuck 'em).

I just laugh....because "they" spend twice as much time figuring out why their life is fucked up....as I do improving mine.

(Which leaves me, as best as I can figure, about 3 hours more every day to enjoy all the good shit that I produce....in exactly 1/2 the time they spend wondering why I have it).

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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/7/2009 4:46:51 PM   
chiaThePet


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Don't bogart.

Problem solved.

chia* (the pet)


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You can stick me in the corner, but I'll probably just end up coloring on the walls.

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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/7/2009 5:08:57 PM   
LaTigresse


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Joined: 1/15/2006
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quote:

ORIGINAL: ThatDamnedPanda

quote:

ORIGINAL: SteelofUtah
Anyone else feel like they attract the most negative people on the planet?

If so when you find that you care about them as people but can't stand their negative shit how do you distance yourself from them while also careing for their feelings. I mean these are people who are annoying the hell out of me but they are also people who have been there for me when I needed someone.

The hard part is that it seems that they just wanna STAY Miserable.

So what do you do?


I just don't let people who are consistently "glass half empty" get close to me in the first place.

I'm friendly and approachable to everyone I meet, but it usually takes a while for me to get close to someone to actually consider them my friend. Quite a while, sometimes. Negativity, whining, and chronic pessimism are absolute dealbreakers to me in any personal relationship, and by the time someone gets close enough to be my friend, I've had plenty of time to sniff it out of it's there. If it is, I keep my distance and never let them get far enough inside to affect me with their negativity. It works great.



I am similar to what Panda has said. Negative people and drama queens.............do not want them anywhere around me. I like positive and mellow.

_____________________________

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Just because you are well educated, articulate, and can use big, fancy words, properly........does not mean you are right!

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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/7/2009 6:00:06 PM   
MsFlutter


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I've devoted part of this year eradicating toxic people from my life. I fell off a few Christmas card lists but my productivity level is up and my stress is down.

Everybody we know is in the audience of our lives.  We have to decide who is healthy enough to sit in the front row.


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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/7/2009 6:02:38 PM   
popeye1250


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Steel, it's easy, I just say; "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE YOU ASSHOLE!"
And they do.
Next question?

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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/8/2009 10:12:16 AM   
Vendaval


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Fast Reply -

Life is much too short to be wasted on negative situations and the people that create them.
I choose to be with people who make my life experiences more harmonious and happy.

Vendaval


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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/8/2009 10:21:02 AM   
DavanKael


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Chia, again, I think you may be my hero!  :> 

I am actually grappling with this in a very real way myself right now.  And, after the people (Individually and as a couple) have done the same damn things multiple times across several years and I have taken issue with the behaviors, again individually and as a couple, I have told them that I am looking very seriously at whether or not it's in everyones' best interests to remain in touch.  Were they not people I care for a great deal, I would have already flipped them the bird and walked away. 
Right now, I have said what I wish, I have offered them the opportunity to add anything they feel should be considered and I am grooving with 'waiting is'.  Now, that's not the most comfortable thing for me because I like for such decisions to be made, to wire that dynamite, and blow up said bridges...or not.  But, I can blow up that bridge or not when waiting is filled.  And, I sure as Hell do not grok in fullness: of that, I am absolutely certain. 
  Davan
(Who is using "Stranger in a Strange Land" speak, for those who have not read it...and, if you are one of those people, may I suggest you make haste to your local bookseller and grab a copy.  Heinlein truly was an optimist and constantly gave the human race credit for being capable of living upto its greatest potentials)

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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/8/2009 10:37:29 AM   
daintydimples


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Great thread ! I can't add anything to the excellent advice given here.

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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/8/2009 10:46:33 AM   
DomImus


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quote:

ORIGINAL: SteelofUtah
Anyone else feel like they attract the most negative people on the planet?


I've been spared. They must all be zeroing in on you.


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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/8/2009 10:49:56 AM   
TurboJugend


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The problem with "negative people"is that they might not be negative..but speak the truth. It might just be something we don't like.
Negative can be just an opinion..and not a fact.

ALthough..there are people that just complain..lol....but again..in my eyes...

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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/8/2009 11:02:46 AM   
Toppingfrmbottom


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And ironically some of those people you choose to distance yourself from never quite get why. My brother has always been a collsal asshole to me, very abuseive to me, and my mom, and for a while we put up with it and tried to be nice to him any way, talk to him let him know we were thinking of him, and when we finally got tried of his vicious and venomous reactions to us, we quit, and then he started up with this shit of you never call you never write you never send cards and you never ask how I am, you don't care about me, blah blah blah.


We'd explain "No lyn, we do like you but you're so nasty to be around, that we choose not to expose ourself purposly to your spewing of venom" and he'd be like what ever you're just........... and what ever it was we just were was of course all our fault and not his.

So, I agree, it's far better to cut some people out of your life, and be happy and healthy with out all their toxcicity being spewed into your life.
quote:

ORIGINAL: Vendaval

Fast Reply -

Life is much too short to be wasted on negative situations and the people that create them.
I choose to be with people who make my life experiences more harmonious and happy.

Vendaval


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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/8/2009 11:38:59 AM   
Aylee


Posts: 24103
Joined: 10/14/2007
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quote:

ORIGINAL: SteelofUtah

I just don't get some people.

On a Daily Basis I find myself in situations where the input I receive from other people is Negative. They focus on what is wrong and seek to share this wrong with other people and Oddly enough it isn't because they seek understanding or even advice it would seem that want someone else to feel just as shitty about life as they do.


They say that misery loves company. 

I think though, that people get caught up in the repetitive tape that plays in their head that only talks about what is wrong, they do not like, how bad things are.  They fail to see the forrest because all of those damn trees are in the way. 

It is a difficult pattern to break and can seem like a daunting task. 

Also, when they express just how much their life sucks, they do recieve attention and validation of themselves.  If they have not learned how to internally validate themselves and their lives, they must seek it somewhere else.  Whinging does this for them.  Unfortunatly it does not last.  Because then they must keep seeking it, and to do so all they can think about is the negative.  Which creates a viscious cycle because people start avoiding them, and that reinforces their internal belief that they and their life are crap.

Change is hard, and scarey.  You never know what the outcome will be.   


quote:

Anyone else feel like they attract the most negative people on the planet?


No, actually.  I seem to attract complete and total strangers that want to share their life story with me and talk to me like we are BFFOMGZ!!!!!!!!!!  It is very strange, and it happens all the time to me.  On the plus side, it is not like I ever see these people again, so. . . I am friendly to them. 

quote:

If so when you find that you care about them as people but can't stand their negative shit how do you distance yourself from them while also careing for their feelings. I mean these are people who are annoying the hell out of me but they are also people who have been there for me when I needed someone.


My advice. . . after they have went on their negativity trip with you, say, "Now tell me three good things about yourself/your life." 

Another option is to flat out say, "You know, I am not really good with sympathy, but I am great with solutions." 

I know that you and I have talked some about a couple issues going on in my family, and I appreciated suggestions for solutions. 

My frustration in these situations comes from finding solutions for the person and then they do nothing and whinge about the same problem later.

quote:

The hard part is that it seems that they just wanna STAY Miserable.


A part of me says that people who want to spend their life sitting on the pity-pot DESERVE to be miserable. 

"If you have made mistakes. . . there is always another chance for you. . . You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down but the staying down."
-- Mary Pickford

quote:

So what do you do?

Steel


What do I do?  Well, I have given several suggestions, but honestly, at the end of the day I have to decide if the return is worth the investment.  Sometimes it is and sometimes it is not.  And when it is not, you just have to let them know that there is no room on your couch for an emotional cripple. 

Of course that is a choice you have to make and if you want to make a change, it has to start with you.  And that is hard, because then there is no one to blame but yourself.  ~~ of course. . .if you succeed in a change would you give someone else the credit?  No. . . then you can't blame someone else for a non-success. 

< Message edited by Aylee -- 9/8/2009 11:45:21 AM >


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RE: Distancing Yourself from Negative People. - 9/8/2009 11:44:25 AM   
Mercnbeth


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Steel, I employ a natural "negativity repellent" - REALITY. I don't engage them, unless I want to 'play' with them. Them: "Gee - my car got repossessed" Me: "Wow, that's great, you no longer have to put out money for gas, insurance, maintenance, and get to meet all kinds of new and fun people on the bus!" How much fun is that! The only problem is, after doing that a few times, they stop coming around and I miss out on opportunities for placating my sadistic demons.

quote:

ORIGINAL: TurboJugend
The problem with "negative people"is that they might not be negative..but speak the truth.
Exactly! And who wants to hear that!

I'm sure that when someone asks me a question that I answer directly it is sometimes perceived as "negative" and I am a "negative" person. For instance, when my daughter started looking for a job after spending college studying 'Art History'; I'm sure I was a 'negative' person when I told her "good luck making any money with that degree!" She's still seeking out her 'luck' and works two other jobs, along with her 'Art Career' to pay her bills.

What some people see as "negative" is, in many cases, their reaction to having a dose of reality dumped on their fantasy. A person reflecting reality is a mirror, not a negative person. It's been my experience that people like to distance themselves from reality by calling it "negativity".

You know the old story about the amazingly positive kid who woke up one Christmas morning to a room full of horse shit who dove into it happy because he thought that somewhere there had to be a pony? Well - there wasn't one. Sometimes all you have is a room full of shit. Don't get upset when someone point is out to you. Meanwhile, you'll spend your resources better cleaning it up versus coming to complain to someone 'negative' like me; although I'd enjoy the laugh.

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