Growth

It’s a strange, disorienting experience when narcissists constantly accuse you of traits and behaviors that feel completely foreign. Yet the words stick in your mind and eat away at your confidence. You walk around questioning yourself, trying to reconcile their claims with your sense of who you are, and somehow, you always come up short. … Read more

Narcissists are rarely dangerous because of what they say. They are dangerous because of what they never say. Silence can be curated just as carefully as words, and omission is often its most powerful form of control. For years, I believed clarity would eventually arrive in the form of a confession, an apology, or a … Read more

Narcissists don’t choose randomly. There is a pattern to who gets pulled into their orbit and who somehow stays invisible to them. It often lands quietly, not as relief, but as shame, because the question that follows is rarely kind: “Why does this keep happening to me?” For years, I asked myself that same question … Read more

Narcissists do not just hurt you. They drain you slowly, strategically, until you forget who you were before them. They do not take everything at once. They take it in increments until exhaustion masquerades as weakness. I remember the moment this truth landed in my body, not as an idea, but as a physical realization. … Read more

Narcissists are not frightened by anger, confrontation, or even conflict. They are frightened by boundaries. For years, I believed power meant explaining myself better and defending my intentions more clearly. I thought finding the perfect combination of words would finally make my mother, sister, or brother understand me. I thought if I stayed calm enough, … Read more

Escaping a narcissist is supposed to mean freedom, clarity, and peace. Yet one of the most disorienting experiences survivors report is finally getting out, only to find the narcissist waiting for them in their dreams. They appear uninvited when the body is most defenseless, and the mind has lowered its guard. Many women tell me … Read more

Healing has a quiet requirement that no one really warns you about until you break it. Your steps have to move away from the person who harmed you, not toward them, no matter how reasonable the excuse sounds in the moment. I learned this slowly, in the spaces where loneliness softened my memory, and familiarity … Read more

“Why do they hate me so much when all I ever tried to do was love them?” That question doesn’t arrive once. It loops. It shows up while you’re doing laundry, driving, or staring at a message you rewrote ten times because you’re terrified of sounding “wrong.” It’s the question survivors ask when kindness is … Read more