Identifying toxic influences in our lives and taking steps to create a new life without them can improve mental and physical health over time.
We all have lots of positive and negative influences in our lives. This could be a person, a behavior, a thought… Anything that influences how you feel and how manageable your life feels.
We’d all like to have more positive influences and less negative ones. But this is easier said than done. That’s because the same thing can have both positive and negative effects. Maybe someone gives you companionship, but they also say things that make you feel guilty or worthless. Maybe the things you say to yourself help you feel in control, but you also obsess over them. How can you figure out when the negatives outweigh the positives?
And what do you do once you decide something or someone is toxic to you? Setting boundaries and making changes is difficult, and sometimes we don’t have the confidence to take the leap.
This worksheet will help you work through the positive and negative aspects of the influences in your life. It will also help you build confidence to make positive changes that might be uncomfortable or difficult.
This worksheet is an excerpt from Mental Health America’s Mental Health Month 2020 Toolkit.
This worksheet is also available in Spanish.