Cleaning House

Drama queens. Blamers. Downers. Toxic people. We all know a few. The number one way to identify them is, they normally drain the energy out of you within 15 minutes of activity with them. You must try to detoxify every now and then. Cleaning your immediate area of all these wind-uppers or what a friend calls "spinners" is a survival act.

Because a number of them might be people we're actually stuck with, be it by blood relations, common workplace, or shared apartment building, the idea of cutting them off completely might be an improbable thing. But limiting your exposure to them is the next best thing. If you let them, they can suck the inspiration out of you. The gloomy cloud above them is also very contagious. At times it may be necessary to come up with ways of dodging or gracefully shortening the experience. I think this may be the real reason behind the invention of answering machines. The way I see it, it's not mean, it's a duty to onesself.

A very uninspiring object, or an apartment layout can be just as lethal for you. I like things to always stir something in me somehow. It could just be a kitchen towel, but I'd like to “love” that kitchen towel a lot, so much so that by just placing that piece of cloth on my refrigerator handle, I smile everytime I reach for it. Conversely, I could walk into a room and all of a sudden tense up. This of course reminds me to seriously clean the clutter in my office desktop. Not good “chi”-harvesting composition.

Sometimes, the toxic person might actually be you.
(And we're all guilty of this from time to time)
Here are few ways of telling whether it's time for you to chill:
-"buddies" in your IM list are suddenly "not at their desks" as soon as you come on
-every topic returns back to "you"
-you take the joy out of otherwise delightful moments, making them unbearable for other people
(example, "if I wear flip flops, sand will get between my toes, but if I wear sneakers, no one will see my cute nail polish. Of course, I can wear closed-toe sandals, but it may be too hot. What do you think?" Then you ignore the other person's response anyway and keep whining.)
-you think you're the only one who gets caught under the rain
-your compliments sound insulting
-you look at a half-filled coffee cup and think, "not a Venti Latte"
-it never seems to be your fault
-you gather a group of people and ask them each to explain why you were not invited. Afterwards, you cross reference.

If symptoms persist, watch a movie or something. It just may be time to take yourself less seriously.
Happy cleaning!