I guess that's one way of looking at it.

If you have people who tear you down, it's hard to build self esteem. If you have people who don't respect your boundaries, it's hard to create good habits and feel like you have control over your life.

Over the years I've evaluated just about every relationship I've had, and yes, I've cut ties with some people. I've also set boundaries in hopes of improving some of those relationships, but that hasn't always been received well by others. When someone is used to you saying yes to all requests, or allowing them to be jerks to you or others and you suddenly say, that doesn't work for me, it can be a big problem.

The interesting thing for me was, as I quit spending time with bullies and narcissists I seemed to find new friends and establish new relationships with other family relationships.