Vanessa Van Edwards explains how to respond when a friend constantly vents negativity. Try reframing with "What's good?" to shift focus, empathize by saying "I've been there," or simply acknowledge their mood without fixing it. The pattern is their struggle, not your failure.
We have friends, Scott and I know Scott knows who I'm talking about. Who are. Who are just negative, and we love them for it. They're just neurotic, anxious, hate the world types. And so we just joke with them and they. We literally have a friend who in text messages writes, I hate everything. Like, literally. And that's sort of part of his humor. And so you can also, if this person always says no, first try what's good. Try anything new and exciting, right? You can try those. What's good is also, like, they have to find something good. It's hard for them to say no if they still say no. You can be like, oh, I've been there. I've been there. Right? You can, like, just empathize with them, or you can be like, yeah, hating the world today. Hating the world today. Like, you can actually just honor that sort of feeling, because that could be part of their personality, and that's okay, too. So hard one, hard one. It's not you. It's not you.
