I had seen a list of how to have a better life and one of the suggestions was to “stay away from toxic people”. I generally agree with this advice, but I think the term “toxic” has lost its punch. It seems like the modern interpretation is “stay away from people that give you negative feelings” and that can just be shortened to “just stay away from people”.
Everyone has terrible traits, including you and me. Through our flawed humanity, we are bound to do something that causes negative feelings in others. If you live a life where you specifically try to not cause negative feelings in others, I promise you that you will live a very empty life where you have no idea what you want or need. Avoiding negative feelings in relationships is truly a missed opportunity. Without the bad, we do not grow. Relationships are two autonomous beings sticking with it through the good and the bad. This is how growth happens.
If toxic means staying away from serial killers or abusive people, yeah duh, but there are far fewer of them than we think.