Letting Go of a Relationship That Stresses You

Research shows that having ambivalent friendships in your life—relationships where interactions are sometimes supportive and positive and sometimes hostile or negative—can actually cause more stress than relationships that are consistently negative! Additionally, relationship conflict and stress have been shown to have a clear negative impact on health, affecting blood pressure, contributing to heart disease, and correlating with other conditions. That’s why it’s in your best interest to minimize or eliminate negative relationships in your life. The following plan can help you to minimize the stress of ambivalent relationships in your life.

Step One: Make a list of friendships in your life. Include everyone you think of when you think of your ‘friends’, including those you only see on your holiday card list, those you see regularly, and everyone in between. Also include romantic partners, if they're in your life now or may come back into your life at some point.