Proof that it's possible

I started last season as a bronze 5 player, all cheerful and starry-eyed, hoping to master this game and climb out of bronze. I managed to get to gold 5, which was as far as I really wanted that season, so I started playing normals with no direction. I played the game solely with the intent to have fun, so people who were just toxic I "retaliated against". I use these words as it wasn't retaliation, they flamed once and I used it as ammunition to berate them and flame them the whole game. I got dropped down to honor level 0 on 3 accounts in the span of a month, dropping down from honor 5,4, and 3.

I kept playing this way for a few months until I finally decided that I was going to be a better person. Instead of flaming people back, I de-escalate if posible, or mute, report, then move on. I'm not perfect though, sometimes I will flame back, but it's not what it used to be, and i'm working to get better at it.

People seem to have the idea in their mind that it's okay to put people down because x, but it never is. No matter how frustrated you get at someone, lashing out in anger is never the way to do things.