Unless and until you have been living under a rock, you must be aware of the ‘Marie Kondo’ wave that has swept everyone across the globe. For the uninitiated, Marie Kondo is the best selling author of the book ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up’, which was published in the year 2014.

Who is Marie Kondo? The author is a Japanese organizing consultant and world-renowned tidying expert, who has started a decluttering craze amongst the people all around the globe. From cleanliness freaks to self-attested couch lovers, everyone wants to tackle and organize their stuff, all thanks to Marie Kondo. What is the method all about? While her book (and latest Netflix series) is all about tidying up and how it leads to the ultimate bliss, the gist however still remains to get rid of all the unnecessary items or the items that ‘do not spark joy’, according to Marie Kondo.
Her book and series ultimately point toward two basic steps that need to be followed:
1. Discard all the items that do not spark joy (read unnecessary items)
2. Purge by category not the location How to apply the same method when it comes to friendships? All the focus here should be on the method that talks about discarding items which do not evoke any joy. The best part about this technique is that it can be applied in all the aspects of your life, from the clothes in your closet, medicines strewn in your cabinet and beauty products that are laying on your dressing table, way past their expiry.
In a similar manner, you need to purge the toxic friendships and relationships in your life that you have been dragging on for years, just for the sake of nostalgia. The golden rule remains the same. Pay close attention to how you feel about certain friendships in your life. Do they spark joy or do you feel bogged down just by their mere presence?
Start by analyzing how you feel around all of your friends. Slowly, single out people who drain your energy when you meet them or bring out a vicious and negative version of you, that you really detest.
While it is completely okay to have a different set of friends that serve different purposes in your life, it is crucial to differentiate between people who bring you happiness and those who feed on your energy. How can you do it? However, we understand that cutting off people from your life, especially those you have known since forever, is not that easy. After you are done identifying friends who take you away from the kind of person you want to be, start maintaining your distance from them. Spending less time together is the easiest way to slowly end a friendship. Alternatively, you can also tell them whatever is bothering you and see if they could do anything about it.

The takeaway

Whether it is the passive-aggressive friend who always seems to have a sarcastic remark ready for you or the one who butters you up, nice and proper, and talks crap about you, the moment you turn your head away, it is important to manage your friend list in real life.

Learn to differentiate between someone who is always around whenever he/she needs something and the one who genuinely cares for your well-being.

Ultimately, it does not matter which path you choose to tread on, remember that you don’t need someone whose sole purpose in life is to make you do things for them. Let go of the drama and take a step back. You will thank us later for the newly found peace of mind.

Source: indiatimes.com