Negativity

I have a few friends who are great friends to vent to. We can spend hours on end complaining (mostly about work or maybe about other people), fueling each other on to get to depths of negativity (and bitchiness) that I didn't know existed. The problem with these people is that they're downers. While I like to go off about things that bother me once in a while, they seem to be perpetually set to 'Rant'. In recent months I've been making an effort to keep a positive outlook on life, especially with regards to my job. When I spend more than a few minutes with these people however, I find that I start to feel really down about things as well - it doesn't take long to get sucked in to that way of thinking! I become critical of others, pessimistic about future outlooks or find the bad in things that originally excited me. Recently I have distanced myself from these negative people, and instead have started to really value those close to me who can put a positive spin on things while remaining realistic.