Now that it is after Christmas I seem to run into her whenever I go out to sing. She has her new beau (source) with her and their PDAs are hard not to notice. When I was with her she didn’t believe in them. I try not to make eye contact with either of them, but I can sense them looking at me and my friends have verified that they are looking at me. I try to stay put and not let it bother me, but I begin to feel sick and have almost fainted from the anxiety.

She has even dragged her friends to places where I sing. None of look thrilled to be there. One of them once stayed behind after the others had left and stared at me until I noticed her. She tilted her head to the side, pouted her lips and waved at me. Am I being paranoid or is she purposely showing up at karaoke nights now that she knows I like to sing? I feel like I’m going crazy.

I have had depression, anxiety, and OCD for most of my life and when I met her I was feeling better than I had felt for over twenty years. Eventually I shared these things with her and she acted like she cared. Now I am a total wreck…reentering therapy and adding on to my meds. Nothing seems to work. No contact seems like a distant dream to me. Now I’m unemployed for the winter and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to work when I get recalled in the spring. I have never felt worse. I feel like nothing but a miracle can help me now.

Hi Diane,

No, you are not to blame and that’s a fact. They will always make us feel the exact opposite and this is intentional. A narcissist wants to always keep us in a heightened state of guilt and anxiety all the time and they do a very good job. Unfortunately, as a result, we become addicted to the very drama that we hate. I agree, it is awful. If you ever get a chance, read my book When Love Is a Lie. In it, I talk about all of it…the whole dynamic of being with a narc…and how I finally broke myself free.

Yes, sister, today may not be a good day but tomorrow will definitely be better. One day at a time is all that we can do:)

Zari xo

Wow! I was where you were a few months ago… I finally stop talking to people about it and sat and read and hung out reading message boards so I could at least be around people who understood. I spent hours listening to YouTube videos and read Zaris books. I went no contact back in February after he told me he was going on a date and then called me when the date was over as it didn’t work out. I of course dropped everything and went over there. After reading an article about no contact to get your boyfriend to respect you I went no contact for the 30 days recommended and even gave myself an extra day. I thought that would change everything. Nope. he had already moved on. That’s when I googled and found NPD which I didn’t know existed. I have had a person in my life that pings 95% of the boxes throughout my entire life beginning with my own Mother. I knew this was big so I just got submersed into the subject. My story was exactly like the thousand I read. I got a kick out the fighter people. The stories that showed some spunk. The I’m not going to take this lying down stories. The I’m going to look at myself and figure this out. That gave me hope and put a smile on my face. People don’t understand and I guarantee they have narcassists all around them too they just haven’t figured it out yet. These message boards are full of the people that have figured something out. It’s now been 8 weeks of No Contact. He even emailed me at my office last week and I didn’t respond. I could never have done this if I hadn’t found people like Zari and looked at myself in the mirror. I needed to lean on God like never before and I could do this in the silence. I knew he was coming back and I had to be healthy enough to keep moving on! Only say positive things about yourself and only say good things out loud. I can this and do can you!

J

Hi Kristie,

I’m grateful that you found your way to my blog. If you can, download my book When Love Is a Lie from Amazon. It’s a cheap and easy read and you will see yourself all over it. The more validation and confirmation, the better.

Recovery is a team effort…come back often and thank you for sharing:)

Zari xo

Thank you so much for all of your writing. It has provided me with a significant amount of validation that no one else has been able to understand.
Lots and lots of love.

I need to add here that I am currently no contact with my mom and sister. I realise that my issues with NPs stem from severe childhood neglect and also my sister is an NP. Two days ago, my best friend told me that my sister contacted her to try to “fix” things. She is the one who started the silent treatment in the first place! It triggered in me feelings of self doubt and anxiety which in term turned into stress and anxiety the next day. I feel like maybe my attraction to this covert N is really about me not dealing with my real traumas in the first place.

I find myself being distracted from work, to the point where I procrastinate so much that i will probably fail. My house has gone to crap. I am obsessing and obsessing and feel like I can’t get out of it. On top of this, I am married. And my husband has been bearing me and listening to me and understanding me, and yet, today, I am obsessing. It is distracting, and I can’t seem to let it go. I feel like such a loser.

I broke no contact just to reach out. He replied within 15 minutes, asked how I was, i replied, but then he didn’t reply back.

I am getting to the point where I am unsure he is an N, and maybe the problem is me. How do I know for sure?

I am so confused and anxious. Even though in my mind I know this is a toxic person, I know that I don’t actually want to be with a person like this, but the feeling of being rejected is overpowering, because I want that magical fairy moment we had for less than two weeks. I hold on to that and chase that dream.

Can falling for a N be a distraction for our real issues and goals?

I feel like I am drowning.

Beth, tell me about it…I’m glad you’re also here to show everyone there’s a light at the end of the tunnel! Boy was reading Zari’s book an eye opener. I kept getting that feeling that something was “off”, yet wasn’t able to really put my finger on it until reading that book. Thanks Zari for all you do!

Thank you BethD & Christine…I love and appreciate that you both come back to visit here..you are grand examples of RECOVERY and you are both rockstars in my book:) Thank u sisters! I am grateful to know you!

Zari xo

Hi MC,

Thank you so much for sharing and, believe me, it’s my privilege to be able to help. When we’re going through it, we typically are so baffled that we stay just to see what happens next even though we know it will hurt. So weird, right? This is what we need to break out of….the codependency to hope (hope he will change, hope we will change, hope he won’t cheat, hope he really cares, hope he knows what he did, hope he’ll come back, hope he’ll stay away….on and on). It’s all about taking charge of that which we can take charge of. While we can’t control the behaviors of others, we certainly can control our reactions to it. It’s all we can do.

Stay on the path and never lose site of the prize…your happiness. 17 + 35 is way too long to suffer…

I’m grateful that you’re here:)

Zari xo

Great article Zari and good advice Christine. You are a great student of Zari’s and I’m sure she would give you an A. I also jumped right in for distraction. I ended up being a basket case and I really didn’t have much to give being in that “numb” state you are in the first 6 months. I met my man a few months out but held off on meeting him. I knew he was too nice a guy to get entangled with me while I was still resisting hoovers and struggling off and on. We chatted for a few months before I even met him and I took it slow. Like molasses. He was the on that told me I was with a classic narcissist when I finally explained to him how we broke up. (Yet another disappearing act) Of course once I started reading I was in shock. Explained so much of the crazymaking I went through off and on for years. It also led me to Zari eventually. Yay!! ????????????????????????????????❤️

You have given me so much affirmation that I am getting through this. 17 years of abuse on top of 35 years with another on top of mother the same way. And then a spiritual guide too. Completely boxed in to this type. Blasted.

Yet I am seeing a way out and feel better than have in years. The validation and guidance you share, step by step on how to get out and stay out of these destructive head games has me feeling so much better. Almost normal.

Thank you so much Zari. You guidance hits home.

Hi Fluffy,

As always, thank you for sharing and now that you’ve booked a consult, we will speak one-on-one and nip this thing in the bud once and for all! I look forward to it:)

Zari xo

Hi Emma,

Congrats for 15 months NO CONTACT!!! It makes it all worth it to me. Please continue to visit here and respond to others who still struggle. Experienced advice is appreciated by all! Rock on, girlfriend:)

Zari xo

One thing that always helped me, when I did get any urge to contact the narcissist, was to imagine the “worst case scenario” of what would happen if I did. Do NOT put on the rose colored glasses and fantasize about some tearful, joyful reunion with these narcissists, where they finally appreciate you and are remorseful for the hurt they caused. That will NOT happen because if narcissists had that kind of empathy, they wouldn’t do what they did to start with!

Instead, I pictured him getting some text from me, smirking that Cheshire grin of his, feeling smug that he still has a hold over me…and then promptly ignoring me. Since narcissists are so good at disappearing acts, that is most likely what would happen. Once they get their fix of attention from you, then they would likely ignore you–then put you in the back of the queue as “back up” supply, in case the newer sources of supply don’t work out. Ask yourself, are you really willing to take the risk of reaching out to the narcissist, only to hear deafening silence–and feeling discarded yet again?

Or, even if narcissists take us back, they’d be on their best behavior temporarily to keep us hooked in–but then, immediately revert to their former behavior (or worse). I used to google and hunt for stories about people who took back narcissists. NONE of them EVER ended happily. I was especially haunted by one person who said how the second discard was even worse than the first, and while the first one just left her depressed–the second one left her feeling suicidal. I thought of THAT whenever I felt a near relapse coming on…and thought how I’m sparing myself from that possibility by staying no contact.

I also distracted myself with activities and thoughts other than the narcissist. After a time, I even prohibited my friends (who had met him) from even mentioning his name around me–and they really were great and understanding about honoring my request (well they hated him anyway so it was also doing THEM a favor to not dwell on it)

One thing that unexpectedly made me feel better was hearing from an old friend again. Then, I started reminiscing about all those great parties he used to throw at his place, and all the fun I had (this was years before the narcissist). That got me to thinking back on lots of OTHER great experiences I had before too, without the narcissist. It made me think that if I could thrive without the narcissist before, I could learn to do so again.

Wow Zari, I need to find that youtube video and learn how to paint myself! My aunt is the artist in the family and to this day, I still wonder where that artistic talent went haha. But I’ve always wanted to learn to do that!

One thing NOT to do is try to “rebound” and jump into another relationship straight away. Please do as I say, and not as I do. I foolishly then jumped back to online dating, trying to distract myself with someone else. One person who showed interest in me looked and sounded just like the narcissist, believe it or not–almost like his evil clone (even looked similar, was the same age, etc.) I also went on a date with another guy, who also turned out to be a jerk. It made me wonder if narcissists were all I could attract!

I eventually got into a healthy relationship, but that was more than a YEAR after the narcissist. When you’re still raw and in recovery, you tend to be very vulnerable and I swear other narcissists pick up on that, thinking you’re ripe for the picking.

Or, you could date nice people and feel like you “should” be into them…but still can’t quite feel it. After being with the narcissist, in a sick way you get used to that…so then, being treated well actually doesn’t feel quite right, since it’s not what you’ve internalized. If I’d met my fiancee at an earlier time, I might have (stupidly) passed him by. Get the narcissist thoroughly out of your system, THEN date again–but no earlier.

Wishing everyone a happy, narcissist-free recovery!

Thank you for another great post. Somehow you always manage to hit the mark on so many subjects. For me, NC will probably be something of a lifelong struggle, although I think it will steadily get easier, because I can feel it happening a little bit at a time, maybe not every day, but for sure on most days. In the very beginning I was working through 15-minute increments, a lot like a 12-step person trying desperately to not pick up. There was no “Yay!” phase for me, not really. Just a hollow loneliness and frustration rattling around in the back of my mind. Now, though, that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach is gone, and I’m not thinking about him or anything connected to him in the same way. Instead of wanting to “fix” things with him, I just want to get on with the rest of my life.

Until NC, my N and I generally had tons of daily contact, texting and talking (except, of course, for the times when he would drop off the radar screen, theoretically for “work”), so for me to be the one to disappear was really odd territory. I was constantly on the watch for any sign of texting life from his side of the fence, and then I would agonize over whether to respond. I would start typing something and then discard it. To be honest, I don’t think he really noticed that I was NC until his calls to me started consistently auto-rejecting and his texts fell into a black hole. There was an initial flurry of trying to contact me, and then he faded away, predictably, to one or more of his other ladies-in-waiting.

He still occasionally sends out a test line, usually some cutesie emoji or some pet name or expression that we used between us that would always make me cave in when we’d previously had big fights. It’s a whole lot simpler to press delete these days than it used to be, and in a weird way it’s become an exercise for me, sort of like lifting emotional weights. Each repetition gets easier. But the one thing that helps me more than anything else is to remember the last thing he said to me before he stomped out of my house for the last time, which is so logic-defying that it makes my brain cramp up if I consider it for too long. He exclaimed, “I can’t stand the stress of lying to you anymore! Every time I’m with you I have to lie to you about what I’m doing and who I’m seeing when I’m not with you, and I hate feeling like this! I can’t relax around you! I can’t ever be happy with someone like you!”

Uhhh…WHAT – ??!! You’re breaking up with me because you’re all stressed out from lying to me about the other people you’re sleeping with?! In which bizzarro universe does that pass for logical thought?! That was enough to finally go NC for me.

Zari, please don’t stop writing…your website and books are priceless to all of us who wasted our time loving an illusion.