How to Deal With Negative People

Whether it is in the workplace or in our family, having negative people in your life can make you miserable. There are however things you can do to lessen and even combat the effects. In this article, I will share some tips that I've personally found helpful.

1) First, with individual people you should try to find out the source of the negativity.

Is it a particular situation, for instance you're thinking of doing something moderately risky such as staring a business or changing careers, are they reacting less positively than what you expected? In that case, they may just be concerned about you. You may need to reassure them and listen to their concerns. That doesn't mean you have to agree with everything they're saying, but it will usually stop the negative comments or attitude.

Then there's the situation of people who can't seem to be happy no matter what they do or you do. They simply have a negative attitude. You can't change them--only they can do that. The best thing you can do for yourself is avoid them if possible until you're strong enough to handle them. If it's a situation where you can't, keep reading for more ideas.

2) Look at your environment and determine any negative influences around both you and people around you.

The problem is as people, we can sometimes be influenced whether we like it or not. If you have a negative job, often you can't just turn off the effects when you leave the building and go home. There is carry-over.

To the extent you can, limit your negative influences and increase your positive ones. Look at the situation like you would finances--you want to be more in the positive than in the negative if you want to be successful. Positive influences can come in the form of supportive friends and family, positive books, and to a certain extent positive forms of media such as movies, television, CDs, etc.

3) You also need to look at negative influences in media as well--just because the person isn't physically in your house doesn't mean they don't influence you.

If there are shows that you watch that leave you feeling worse after watching them, that is not entertainment. I've even found some commercials to be emotionally draining. You need to regulate what you put into your brain as much as possible because that's going to either enhance or lessen the effect negative people have on you.

4) Realize that become more resistant to negative people is a process.

You have to practice patience and keeping your own attitude up. Sometimes you'll make a mistake, but that's okay as long as you learn from it.

Becoming a positive person in people's lives has it's advantages as well. You'll find that if you are less negative yourself and catch yourself when you're about to be negative, more people tend to gravitate toward you and want to be your friend. It's because there's a deep need for more people like that in our culture.

I hope these tips have been helpful toward you. Good luck and best wishes to you in life!