Hard to get rid of negativity

There has been a lot of negativity in my life recently. Not from me though, it's the people around me that have been negative. And for a while I really allowed myself to get sucked in. Before I knew it I was being just as negative as the people around me: Complaining and S&%# picking like the rest of them. It was a little fun at first: not taking responsibility for anything and blaming other people.

But after a while it got BORING... REALLY BORING! I was getting no joy from being negative. I guess it's because I'm not around the negative all the time. They spend so much time together that they've become addicted to it. Whereas I am off somewhere else, doing something with someone etc. So I only got a 'hit' of the drug once in a while, which just wasn't doing it for me.

So a few days ago I decided that I wasn't going to take part in any more negativity. No more whining, complaining, bitching etc. NOTHING!! It was pretty empowering at first. I was taking responsibility for everything that has happened to me. Things got tough when I had to be around the 'junkies' though. I was turning down offers to 'shnarff' (don;t how to spell that word... Is it even a real word?) the negativity with them. And when I didn't participate I was met with hostility.

What is it about us, that makes us want to be negative all the time?

Your thoughts???