The power of association is huge

There are some who allow long time friends or family who are toxic to continue to have influence on them throughout their life. But, there's a saying I believe to be true: "Garbage in, Garbage out". No matter how strong you are, negative influences within your reach can wear on you. The lack of family freed me from the "chains" of having to accept someone in my life I didn't want there. It taught me that everyone in my inner circle is expendable if they aren't a positive influence. Not having a "real" family, I learned to fill my circle with friends instead. And just like family, some of my close friends turned out to be fickle, elusive, unreliable, negative, etc. But in my situation, it was easier to just change friends than it would be to "disown" a family member. It's important for your own sanity and success to remove toxic people from your inner circle and associate with positive role models whenever possible... and practice positive thinking as much as possible.