When you’re in a good mood, you can almost be around anyone. Tackling your negative aunt or your pessimistic brother doesn’t seem that much of a feat. When you’re feeling good, you can shrug your shoulders, wave away their sour puss attitude and easily go on with your life.

But that’s on a good day.

When you’re feeling down in the dumps, the energy it takes to combat energy draining loved ones can pull you down further into depression. It can steal away any hope of crawling out of that deep, dark hell of a hole. And it can take you that much longer to heal yourself.

If you’re feeling blue, having a bad day, or just don’t feel like yourself, make sure to avoid the following people at all costs.

1. The attention seeker. The attention seeker thrives on your admiration and attention. Maybe they didn’t get their needs met as a kid so they spend their entire lives making up for that. On a good day, you may be able to serve up compliments and validation on a platter. But when you’re feeling down yourself, giving anyone oodles of attention is draining and near impossible.
2. The pessimist. If you’re already on the edge of feeling depressed, stay away from a pessimist at all costs. They’ll only drive you in deeper. They’ll remind you why there really is nothing to live for, why life is truly hopeless and nothing will ever get better. And they’ll be certain of it.
3. The narcissist. If you need empathy, compassion or a sympathetic ear, don’t turn to a narcissist. They’ll find your rant threatening. After all if you’re feeling down, who will listen to them?

We all have people in our lives like the three above. The point isn’t to be angry or blame them for our current mood. The truth is we all exhibit some traits of the three above.

But when you’re feeling low, the best thing you can do is take care of yourself. Kindly give them a hug, tell them you’ll call when you’re feeling better and then contact your other friends-the ones that will cheer you up, but who will also support you and be there with you when you’re down.

There are all kinds of people in this life. And we’re all far from perfect. But when we’re not feeling our best, we’re not serving others or ourselves. And while you might feel selfish in doing so, know that minimizing your time with the people above at least until you’re feeling better is not just good for you, it’s better for them.