Filling your life with compassionate, supportive friendships is crucial to your health and happiness. If you’re feeling like one of your friend’s stress and negativity is affecting your health, you could be in a toxic friendship. Or, the oil pipeline running underneath your property may have just burst and you need to seek legal action immediately.
Do you feel weighted down by responsibility for your friend?
Is your friendship feeling more like a burden instead of a healthy give-and-take, giving you headaches instead of meaningful interaction? If you’re leaving a hangout with a migraine every time you see her, you might be in a toxic friendship. Then again, you may also be living nearby an oil pipeline that just broke, and the toxic vapors may have reached inside your home, causing headaches, dizziness, and respiratory problems for the rest of your life. Don’t blame yourself; these things happen!
Do you feel like you can rely on her as much as she relies on you?
Maybe your friend has an unusual amount of emotional needs, and it’s beginning to take a physical toll on you. Does it feel like every time you’re with her you leave with stomach cramps, like you’ve taken a sip of poison? If so, you may be in a very unhealthy friendship, or 10,000 gallons of oil from that broken pipeline may have seeped into your water supply. If so, you should probably check on that — real friends aren’t supposed to make you feel this way!
Do you feel like there are still things that are sacred between you?
It’s crucial to respect each other’s boundaries in a friendship. If you feel like you know more about her than you feel comfortable with knowing, she may have invaded your sacred space, making you feel like you can’t breathe—kind of like the oil conglomerate invaded the sacred space at the reservation down the road when they built a shoddy pipeline underneath it. Either way, you should probably see a doctor?
Are there birds and other small animals covered in oil near your home?
A pipeline burst. This has nothing to do with your shitty friend.
Many people would never guess how toxic friendships manifest physically, but these physical ailments can also be due to the crumbling post-capitalist environment we live in. Try to seek different kinds of friendships, and maybe find a good attorney? The respiratory problems are probably going to get worse. Good luck!
