Why surrond yourself around a negative person?

Relationships are a tricky thing. Relationships between family members, friends, associates and intimate partners. We do not get to pick our family, but we do get to choose our friends and our mate. Just because a relationship starts out positively, it does not mean we are obligated to sustain it when it becomes negative. There is a saying that people come into our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime.

Letting go of a friendship is very difficult. I know that it is not easy for most people to develop strong bonds with others, so once that relationship starts to go sour it is only natural to want to revert it back to when times were good. The problem is if the efforts are one sided than progress cannot be made. Intimate partners are our most intimate friends. They know our vulnerabilities, our dreams, our secrets and it can be painful when that person that you thought you would spend your lifetime with turns out to be someone else.

For me, it was hard letting go of my relationship with my batterer. I had to end the relationship with my best friend because he kept hurting me. He spent most of his days analyzing my every action and verbally acting me. It was hard because I felt like he couldn't help himself. It was like he had some sort of sickness. I wanted to help him, but didn't know how. I just knew I could not hold on to a friendship that had turned so negatively. Once I started researching domestic violence and reading books by experts it was difficult for me to except that his behavior was calculated. He could control his behavior but didn't because his negativity was producing the results that he wanted.

There is no reason to allow someone to treat you badly. Friendships are about loving and supporting each other. It is about respect and boundaries. Once that starts to deteriorate than it is time a reasses the relationship. Why surrond yourself around a negative person?