Toxic Apples.

Do you ever wonder what is the point of having a “smoke section” in a restaurant? Isn’t that like having a peeing section in a pool? It doesn’t make sense because the smoke from the smoking section ruins the air in the non-smoking section. The same goes for the “clean” water in the pool. Isn’t it ironic how one small food stain can ruin an entire outfit? In the same manner, a toxic apple in your circle can ruin everyone in it.

You probably have toxic apples in your life. Those people that belittle every single thing you do or say. You know those people? You speak about an accomplishment, they have one ten times better. It’s almost like they took that old “anything you can do I can do better” song to heart. They feel the need to trump any and everything that you do. Toxic apples are the rain cloud on your parade. It doesn’t matter how happy you are or how good an opportunity or situation is, they find something wrong with it. You find the perfect partner for you, they start digging for flaws. You’ve been offered an amazing job, they tell you why you’re not qualified or why that job isn’t for you.

A tree is only as solid and fruitful as its roots. A bad tree can’t grow good fruit. You always reap what you sow, but that toxic apple in your circle is planting weeds instead of fruitful crops in your life. They plant seeds of doubt, uncertainty, paranoia and fear. Much like a vine that strangles the life out of trees, they attach pain to your happiness and uneasiness to your certainty.

Boa constrictors, large snakes, don’t kill their victims with venom like other snakes. They take a much more subtle but effective approach. Boa constrictors slowly wrap themselves around their victim until they have a good grip. Then slowly by slowly, every time the victim breathes in, the boa tightens its grip more and more until finally the victim suffocates and dies. Toxic apples do the same thing. Little by little they suffocate your goals, block your vision and kill your dreams. They’re a negative force to your life. They’re effective at stopping your progress because they spent their whole life stopping their own. They’re experts at killing progress and they don’t want you to succeed because they never did. They don’t want you to live your dreams because they’re a failure at theirs.

Have you ever been in snow or cold weather? You can actually adjust to the snow and the ice but what really makes you freeze is that cold wind. That wind that you don’t see does the most damage as it rips across your face, fingers, head and ears. Toxic apples offer that arctic wind level of hate. That cold hate, that dry hate, that hate that you don’t see but it does the most damage. You often don’t recognize it because they don’t come at you with the hate but rather reinforce doubt in your mind. They offer “helpful” opinions on why you can’t or shouldn’t do something. Their goal is to make you question yourself so you can ultimately kill you own dream just as they have done.

Toxic apples are vampires that suck the positive energy and life out of any situation. When you celebrate how far you have risen, they remind you how much further you have to go. They downplay your accomplishments and instead of blood, they seek to suck every bit of hope from your life until you’re as lifeless and bitter as they are. Toxic apples view everything as a competition, in the worst way. Every achievement of yours has to be out done. And every good news for you has to be outdone with a headline for them. Sooner or later you will quit sharing your dreams with toxic apples because subconsciously you know they hate it, however, if you allow them to hang around, their influence is still going to affect you.

That’s why you must beware of the company you keep. Toxic apples will always hold you back. Surround yourself with like-minded positive individuals who improve themselves daily and is striving for their success. Letting go of toxic people in your life is the biggest step in loving yourself and thinking of your future.

Check out my similar blog: “Discipline and Your Company” http://howyouliving.net/2013/08/25/discipline-and-your-company/