Narcissists are pathological liars, they lie so much, most of them believe their own lies, which make them all the more convincing in what they say. They bring out the worst in those around them, use other people exploiting them by any means possible, often then to up then leave those the narcissist has exploited at rock bottom.
Knowledge becomes power, so here are some of the most common things narcissistic people do to no longer get sucked into their games anymore and live a much happier life.
Most people are born very self-centred, the requirement of getting their needs met, as newborns can not care for themselves, young children like to test the boundaries, in order to learn what’s right from wrong, what’s acceptable and what isn’t. They can turn from young cute, and loveable to massive temper tantrums when they don’t get their own way. Some children will show empathy for others, yet if they really want something, they take it. When a child takes a toy of another, it’s acceptable as part of growing up. We teach them the art of sharing, however when they are older, if they grow up to take someone’s car or home, this is wrong. They do need to learn as they grow to think of others feelings, to share the art of give and take, and to respect the boundaries, values and beliefs of others.
A narcissist never seems to learn these things and become stuck in an ultimately selfish, self-centred pattern of all about me. They don’t learn the skills of empathy and believe they are, above all others and entitled to do as they please. They are selfish grown adults who only care for getting their own way and their own wants and needs met. You are not required to support them, help them, or be there for them, they no longer have a nappy to change, and even if they did, they’d never change it themselves. They only ever change to suit a need of their own, never to be respectful of another person or responsible for their behaviour.
Signs of a narcissist.
- Lack of empathy or a low level of understanding, most use cognitive empathy to meet their own needs. Compassion is needed as our human need for uncertainty/ variety means we are all unique with different opinions, perspective and interpretations. Understanding is necessary, so when people disagree on opinions, we can step into each other’s shoes and see it from another’s point of view. We can also feel how something might harm or hurt others so that we wouldn’t do it. We all make mistakes, but our guilt would mean we wouldn’t do it again. Narcissistic people often don’t feel guilt, only shame, so they project onto others to avoid those feelings of shame. People with empathy can have boundaries and standards and also be strong-willed about their own beliefs. Yet, they will get other opinions and point of view and come to some form of compromise or agree to disagree, whereas a narcissist only sees their own point of view and wants to win. They don’t care for what others think or feel. It’s only ever about them. If you think differently to them you are wrong. Living with a narcissist, you are constantly under stress, always feeling misunderstood and always told just how wrong you are.
- They have a need for control. Most people have a need for control. It’s called certainty. To have a purpose, we like to have some organisation within our lives. Narcissist use words like can’t, have to, must, need to, got to and many more. They take the need for certainty and turn it into a need for ultimate control that’s all about them. They know how their life should go, and if it isn’t going that way, it’s either up to you to work it out and make it that way, or it’s all your fault it didn’t turn out how it was supposed to. Most often, they don’t even know what they want, believing they want to control a need they’ll never fulfil in the long term. They follow the same patterns time and time again. To keep control, they can be stubborn. Awkward, persistent, nasty, use manipulation like provoking you, blame-shifting, silent treatments, pity plays, anger and rage, so others fear them and conform to their demands. They often gaslight people into believing the narcissist’s reality and not their own.
- They believe they are above all others and are entitled to do as they want. To fill their human need for significance, they think they are unique. In contrast, people with empathy positively fill significance by helping others and feeling good for helping others, serving others actually helps kind people feel good within themselves, adding value to others helps people feel good in a positive way. Narcissists are extremely negative people, and this is because it’s only ever about them, and they fill their needs negatively. They will tell you how amazing they are, what an excellent parent they are, or they’ll play the victim, so they get attention and feel significant. They believe they are far superior to all others.
- They are incredibly manipulative and exploitive, which is often hard to see at first, as they deep down are insecure they need to lie and exaggerate and send people into a trance, so those around them believe they are who they say they are. Believe they are good people and look up to them so that they can keep power and control over others. If you don’t do exactly what they want you to do, if you criticise them most often without meaning to or knowing, they take it personally and will make your life miserable. They’ll punish people any way they can for not conforming to their demands, and they triangulate, they’ll pity play, they will wear you down at all costs to your mental, physical and financial health in order to keep control over you. They use coercion and manipulation, so empathetic People give in to try and have a peaceful, happy life.
- They are unable to take on board others thoughts or opinions. In contrast, an empathetic person, if someone came and said I need to talk about something that hurt my feelings, would listen, take on board opinions and advice, they might not adapt it to their own. Yet, they’ll listen and understand from your perspective—meeting our need for growth, willing to take information in and grow from it, to become better, happier people. A narcissist can never grow in that way. Why they just hit the repeat buttons in their cycles of behaviour, they are therefore unable to grow and change, so they change the person they are with to repeat the same story’s they have throughout their lives. Narcissists believe they are above all others. Therefore they think you are beneath them, and they do not need to listen to you. They will say you are in the wrong, and they’ll twist it all around onto you, passing their faults into your subconscious, leaving you doubting yourself, and eventually going to them for reality as they’ve slowly stripped your thoughts and feelings away, so you no longer know who you are. They can be extremely defensive. Extremely harsh and extremely hurtful. The narcissist doesn’t like to listen unless they believe they have something to gain by doing so.
- They live in their own reality with no regard for others, they tell that many lies. Most believe their own lies and think you’re the one to blame. They have a way with manipulative words to gaslight you into losing your reality and taking on there’s, so you no longer believe you are good enough, from the ” If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t.” Covert way to the overt way of ” you’re just stupid.” Repeated time and time again so your subconscious believes it. Or you’ll be having normal conversations with them, and they’ll say, “That’s not how it happened.” Even though you know, it is through all the gaslighting of “You’re losing your mind.” You doubt yourself and your reality. Also, when you have evidence, they’ll say your wrong, misunderstood, it wasn’t them, they’ve been set up, fly into a rage or the silent treatment, then blame you for the rage, or wait for you to overanalyse the silent treatment blame yourself chase them and apologise to them, leaving you even more confused and drained, the more drained and confused you get the easier it is for them to manipulate you.
- They believe you are there to serve them, as they are only with you to meet their own needs, they don’t understand give and take they only give if there is some they can take, they invalidate your emotions, your thoughts, your Perspectives, your feelings, your opinions, to them it’s doing things my way, or I’ll hit the highway and take you into a living nightmare in the process.
- They play nice. Again to meet a need of their own, they bring on the charm and helpfulness, again so you doubt yourself and believe it was all your fault after all, while you are meeting all their needs they will play nice, as soon as there is any indifference their true selves show again. When you say no, the tantrums come out, and they manipulate any way they can to get you to conform to their demands. They will then provoke and push your buttons to get reactions from you, so you feel as you’re to blame and do all you can through guilt to make it up to them. They confirm this subconscious thought pattern within yourself by bringing out their nice side, those intermittent reinforcements when they play nice, making you believe it was you. You then turn into someone you don’t want to be and slowly lose who you truly are.
It’s not your fault. They are cruel, calculated and abusive, no one deserves that treatment from anyone, you can, and you will recover from this. They will just hit the repeat button.
Signs of a narcissist.
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Elizabeth Shaw is not a Doctor or a therapist. She is a mother of five, a blogger, a survivor of narcissistic abuse, and a life coach, She always recommends you get the support you feel comfortable and happy with. Finding the right support for you. Elizabeth has partnered with BetterHelp (Sponsored.) where you will be matched with a licensed councillor, who specialises in recovery from this kind of abuse.
How to handle yourself around a narcissist.
Reprogram your mindset after narcissist abuse.
