💆 It’s time to free yourself from the toxicity around you.

The opposite of toxic is not positive—it's healthy.

In its literal form, “toxic” means “poisonous”—causing or capable of causing death or illness if taken into the body. In our daily lives, it manifests in a lot of ways that we might not even realize. From our own behaviors, to the way people treat us, we often normalize things that aren’t healthy. But for one and other reasons, we tolerate them anyways.

Let’s look at the toxicity we might be facing daily, and how we can manage it to support our productivity.

Toxic Positivity

On a surface level, the logical way to fight any negativity might be to replace it with positivity. “Cheer up!”, “oh it’s not that bad!”, “keep calm and be happy!”. Sayings like these might be counterproductive when we try to help someone through a difficult situation. “There are many benefits of positivity, but when you do so to an extreme, when you dismiss authenticity, that's where problems arise”, says clinical psychologist Jamie Long.

Read the full article on how a positive attitude could turn into toxic positivity here.

Dean Burnett @garwboy

There are many reasons why #ToxicPositivity is harmful. An obvious one is that, under the guise of being helpful and motivational, it emphasises that you, just you, are responsible for your happiness and success. So if you're not happy, that's your fault, and you're a failure /5

Scroll through this twitter thread posted by neuroscientist and author Dean Burnett, to learn more about the concept of toxic positivity and the harm it might cause.

Toxic Work Environment

At work, there are a lot of power dynamics involved, which could easily create a fear of speaking up, among others. This might be unintentional from the more powerful individuals—leaders, managers, seniors, or even intentional to show authority. Here are 5 signs of toxic leadership we need to be alert of:

• Leaders who create change using an intimidating tactic, creating fear instead of inspiring and leading by example.

• Choose to manipulate over giving sacrifices.

• Treat their team members merely as tasks.

• Show favoritism, favoring “yes men” over vocal team members.

• Emotionally unstable: inconsistent in their actions, unpredictable mood swings, easily triggered, and their trust issues cause them to see stand-out team members as threats.

Listen to the full 12-minute podcast breaking down these signs of toxic leadership here.

Remote Work

Now that we’re working from home and migrating to remote work, toxicity unfortunately could still be alive and well. Organizational psychologist, Stephanie Andel, states some signs of a toxic remote work environment: your work assuming you are available 24/7, you are consistently being monitored (digitally), or you often witness unhealthy discussions via Zoom. There are ways you can take to manage these toxic signs, like setting a meeting with your boss to address the issue, turning off your work computer in the evening to destress, and engaging in positive activities with family and friends.

Find out more signs of a toxic remote work environment and how to deal with them here.

Toxic Colleagues

Not everyone is blessed with a supportive team who cheer on their wins and assist them through their losses. Sometimes, your co-workers could be the source of the toxins in the room. If you know a co-worker who likes to criticize without giving solutions, purposely undermines others’ opinions, hoards information to themselves, and often puts blame on others, you might need to take these detoxing steps:

1. Have a candid conversation with the person.

2. Raise your own game and keep your ego in check.

3. Talk with your boss.

4. Take care of yourself—own what you can, let go of what you can’t influence.

This Harvard Business Review article tells all about dealing with toxic colleagues here.

What if I’m the toxic one?

Before going around identifying whether the people around you might be toxic, it’s best to be in touch with yourself first. Let’s go through this simple checklist:

• You can’t maintain partners.

• You can’t fully trust your friends and you drain them out.

• You barely ever apologize.

• Drama seems to be following you everywhere.

• You seek validation through numbers on social media.

• You, subconsciously or intentionally, talk about people behind their backs.

• You shut others out when their opinions are different from yours.

Sometimes, we can repeat hurtful behavior without meaning to. Don’t be discouraged if you feel like some of the characteristics above somehow suit you. Work on self-care and realize you don’t have to be negative to demand respect. Remember that behaviors are learned and can be unlearned. Change is possible as long as you do the work.

Watch the short animation on signs you might be the toxic one here, and read more examples of toxic behaviors and ways to unlearn them here.

See you next week with a more healthy and refreshed ambience!