20 Red Flags of Negative People in Your Life

With a lot of stress and challenges that we face every day, we can’t help but feel sad, angry, and anxious at some point in our lives. We confront and solve these problems to replace our negative emotions with positive ones. There are certain people, however, who tend to always look at the negative side of life. These people may not be aware of it that it can also lead them to destroy people’s lives. They may be present in your home, work, school, or community. To help you identify if you are dealing with negative people, here are the 20 red flags that you should watch out.

1.    They are pessimistic people

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Generally, there are times when you would think negatively with anything for a short time. This does not apply in the cases of negative people. They tend to always look at the dark side of life and still see opportunities as difficulties that can’t be handled. 

2.   They take out all your positive energy

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Negative people cultivate their negativity by sucking out your positive energy. They would drag you down to their dark worlds as they absorb any positivity that you have. 

3.   They always complain

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Since negative people always see the bad side of life, there’s nothing that can satisfy them. They complain a lot as they think that the odds are always against them.   

4.   They worry about everything

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Negative people have the habit of worrying all the time. They believe that worrying would make them safe from having more negative thoughts. But they can’t see that it’s the other way around. 

5.   They manipulate you

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You would not notice that negative people are manipulating you. They are good at disguising themselves as the good people who care for and support you. Beware that their so-called kindness would lead you to fall on their traps to manipulate your thoughts and actions.

6.   They are overly sensitive people

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Negative people are very sensitive. They view anyone’s remarks as criticism and downgrading for them.

7.   They love talking about themselves

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Negative people love to be the center of attention. They exhibit it by talking about themselves. They might be throwing a few questions to you, but it always leads back to them. In the usual conversation, they either interrupt you or won’t shut up talking about their aspirations, goals, thoughts, etc. 

8.   They want to have full control of everything

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Controlling everything is one of the displayed signs of negative people. They love to be in charge of everything that includes you and other people around them. They won’t stop in bugging you as long as you don’t agree with everything that they want you to do. 

9.   They are scared to try new things

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Moving out from family, employment relocation, and career change are some of the things that negative people are afraid to do. They are scared to step out of their comfort zone as they fear the unknown and possible challenges along the way.

10.   They tend to be a hypocrite

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With controlling people, they also tend to exhibit hypocrisy. They would set expectations for all of you (e.g., being early in the office) yet they’re the ones who first break it. If you fail to comply with their expectations, they would criticize you and complain about it. 

11.   They always create excuses for their actions

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If they failed to follow instructions and rules, they would not acknowledge their wrong actions. Instead of admitting it, they would create excuses and lies to cover their behavior. 

12.   They criticize everything you do

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Aside from whining a lot, negative people also like to criticize everything and everyone. From your simple gestures to big decisions, they always lash out their negative opinions about it. They could even smirk and tease you daily. 

13.   They quickly want to form a relationship with you

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Quickly forming a relationship with you is another specialty of negative people. At first, they would attract you with their compliments and charm. It may seem a great time for both of you, but it’s their way of getting to know how to manipulate you. 

14.  They instantly change their bonds with you

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After they formed their relationship with you, negative people would suck out all your positive energy. You would soon notice that their affection towards you would change. Their sweet words would turn into blunt remarks about you. 

15.   They provoke jealousy and competition

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Under their innocence are their jealousy and competitive thoughts about you. You might not discover it since they are doing nice things for you. However, once they see the opportunity to attack you, they would unravel it through half-meant jokes and comments about your behavior.

16.  They love to be the victims of all situations

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Negative people love to play as victims all the time. They like to get your sympathy and support to shift their wrongdoings towards your actions. Since they only see negativity, they always create drama over it to lure people on their traps. 

17.   They like to display their toxic behaviors in public

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If they experienced ‘unjust’ treatment, negative people would not tolerate it. They are not ashamed to publicly display their behaviors. Since they believe what they are doing are right, they think that earning attention and sympathy are the appropriate gestures to solve their difficulties. 

18.   They would make you feel guilty or ashamed

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Since they are good at manipulating people, they are good at diverting their wrongdoings to others. They can ignore their behaviors and put the guilt and shame towards you. 

19.   They ruin your self-esteem

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Negative people could ruin your self-esteem by making you feel bad about yourself. It can be in the form of sharp remarks, silent treatment, and negative energy that they’ve passed to you. 

20.   They backstab you whenever you’re not around

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Negative people always find faults to anyone. With this, you can expect them to backstab you while you’re not around. They would spread rumors that can ruin your relationship with others. 

Removing negative people in your life can be a challenging task for you. You have invested your time and effort to these kinds of people, yet they didn’t seem to equate your good intentions towards them. You might feel that you are obliged to stay with them; however, you should always know that you don’t deserve the enormous amount of stress and pain that you are currently feeling. It’s better to seek peace and positivity if you are leaving all the negative people behind you.