Doing a clean sweep of your emotional closet

Every now and then it's good to take a thoughtful pause and review the relationships in your life. While it's maybe easier to clean out your messy and unorganized closets, junk drawers or the trunk of your car, I'm talking more about the emotional things, the things that are not visible. I'm referring to relationships that might not be positive (friends and or family) or even people you follow on social media that leave you with a bad feeling.

In our relationships, we want to avoid people who mess with our heads. Sometimes we don't realize this is apart of a relationship until we stand back and evaluate our feelings around it. When you spend time with this person, do you leave feeling good about yourself? Or do you feel manipulated and that they are always putting you down?

Evaluate your relationships for people who intentionally and repeatedly do and say things that they know upset you.

Evaluate your relationships with people who expect you to prioritize them but refuse to prioritize you. This is another one that at first you may not see or be able to identify, but when you check-in with yourself and can see patterns that repeat themselves, put some thought into whether this is a relationships you want to continue to be apart of. Are you doing all the heavy lifting in this relationship? If so, why? Do you want to continue to do this? And what are you getting out of it that makes it worth being in this relationship?

Having relationships with people who aren't capable or who will not apologize sincerely or who struggle with admitting wrong -this is another red flag that is worthy of your consideration.

There are some relationships where the other person acts like a victim when they are confronted with their unappealing behavior. Stand back and imagine how your life would be different without this person and take your power back.

I've listed some toxic behaviors that are unhealthy in relationships. Sometimes there can be things that don't feel good about a relationship, but we can't quite put our finger on it. Learning to identify why we feel the way we do in certain relationships can help us move into healthier spaces with people who are encouraging, positive and supportive. Learning to name our emotions as they come up can be empowering as we take a step back and review our relationships.