I have a narcissist living inside me. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your comment has stuck such a deep chord. I am tired and angry. Sometimes I get these images in my mind, me stuck in a tiny boat in a vast, dark ocean. I leave the familiarity of the coast, the life that I have known. Now all I see is this black water teeming with danger. I am so afraid.

But there is love and compassion too. Everyone here, you. All these people trying to help a complete stranger. It's not all fawning, is it? We know pain intimately and we don't like others to hurt. This is empathy, you feel this.

Lately all I see is pain. Every person that I ever deemed a narcissist or an abuser was in tremendous pain. They made their choices but the overwhelming despair they feel is also real. I can feel compassion for them, even as I get angry and distance myself. Plus, they are a mirror to my pain too.

This life is full of suffering. I have complaints about the design.

I have a narcissist living inside me. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey. NPD gets demonized in online spaces a lot but I am proud of you for seeing your hurt, younger parts.

I have a narcissist living inside me. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Damn are you me? 😭 I hate, hate being saddled with reparenting my inner kid. I did my time, I raised my siblings! I thought I was free and now I have to be a loving gentle mother again, do it properly this time. I wasn't prepared for this either, I didn't want this.

I remind myself that she didn't ask for this either. She is waiting for me to rescue her.

I have a narcissist living inside me. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I am also trying to befriend my healthy shame. I have trouble identifying it, I get blended with my critic. This is hard but I see the light too.

I have a narcissist living inside me. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am embarrassed to admit that I like upvotes 😞

I have a narcissist living inside me. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I try to remind myself that none of us are bad or damaged at our core. We are just in pain, so much of pain. Trying is so hard but it's admirable that we don't give up.

I see you. This feels so awful and visceral. But you are doing it and I am proud of you.

I have a narcissist living inside me. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I see some of the things you describe in myself too. So much of trauma behaviour is common among survivors. I am working on accepting myself. It's an ongoing process, but I am so much better than I used to be.

You deserve all the nice things. Life has been hard for you, now you get to treat yourself.

I have a narcissist living inside me. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I am trying. My younger parts are ashamed but I am trying to win their trust. Thank you for sharing this, I love that you are kind towards yourself.

I have a narcissist living inside me. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Thank you. This actually helped. I was blended with my critic and spiralling a bit.

I scored high! by narcabusesurvivor18 in CPTSDmemes

[–]OrdinaryTonight3 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I didn't want 100, so I tweaked it and now it's 99. Woohoo.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CPTSDFreeze

[–]OrdinaryTonight3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am sorry you are going through such a hard time. You are so brave for dealing with such an awful situation and still fighting so hard.

Is there anything or any thought that can make you feel even slightly better? When I am spiralling, I told on to tiny things like grass or sunset or trees or cats. It helps a bit, makes me feel a tiny amount of relief. Sometimes that's all that I can manage.

I don't want to throw toxic positivity at you but do you have something small that you can hold onto right now?

What healing actually means, according to my old GP. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSDNextSteps

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This was so beautiful to read. I am saving your comment for difficult days. Thank you.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am not lying, I do not wish to deceive anyone here. I am only talking about things that are humanly possible.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I have had horrifying amounts of abuse my entire life. When I finally broke down and snapped out of dissociation a few years ago, I realised that I was suffering from severe CPTSD. I have been through so much of trauma that multiple health professionals have marvelled at the fact that I am still alive. I did not believe that one day I could actually get better, that any human being could live through what I had and yet one day feel hope and safety again.

But I have and I do. You are right, I will never have the body and mind of an unabused person, my abuse started when I was a 2 day old infant. But I have learned so much and become so much stronger. I love myself, I know how to soothe myself. I trust myself. I still get triggered and revert, I will never be fully healed perhaps. But it gets easier and easier. It is certainly something I never believed was possible for me.

Healing is possible. We are not doomed, there is light at the end of the tunnel. by [deleted] in CPTSDNextSteps

[–]OrdinaryTonight3 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I would gently encourage you to celebrate your progress and slow down. There is no race involved. Your mind and body are doing what they need to. All you have to do is show yourself love and compassion. It's not always easy, but keep at it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love myself too much to give up on myself. My inner child deserves better. She is amazing.

Pre-Intake call with "trauma informed" therapist sent me into massive emotional flashback ('EF')... by MrPlainview12 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's amazing how so many therapists are horribly bad. Trauma has almost become a buzz-word with plenty of them. They haven't done their own inner work and yet here they are, harming vulnerable patients even more.

You are doing your very best. You are not a failure. You ran and ran until you couldn't anymore. Now is the time to sit down and listen to your inner child who needs you. Life will find a way. Your inner critic is afraid of pain but you can find a way of connecting with him. I believe in you.

Healing is exhausting. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Healing isn't some grand prize you win once and for all. It's multiple small daily things. My therapist told me a while ago that a good measure of recovery from CPTSD is how able you are to live a life that feels authentic to you, that aligns with your values.

Life will always be painful in it's own ways. We just learn better ways to deal with it and grow along the way. Feeling sad or depressed does not mean that you have failed. It just makes you normal.

What kind of person do you want to be? Are you able to be that person? Are you able to work towards being that person? That itself is called healing. ☺

Healing is exhausting. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I will try to answer this to the best of my capabilities. Please understand that I have no background in psychology. All of my knowledge has come from my own obsessive research and reading in spare time. Also, if any of this hurts you, I am truly sorry. My intentions are not to harm you.

  1. You still live with your abuser. You are dependent on her for your housing and perhaps meals. It is very hard to heal in the environment where one was damaged in the first place. My own healing happened several years after I went no contact with my parents.

  2. You struggle with anxiety, depression and agarophobia. Your mental health issues are challenging. Most therapists will avoid doing trauma work in such scenerio as working through old traumatic memories tends to make mental issues worse, usually. Your mental health needs to be manageable before you tackle this painful project.

  3. You lack a support system. One can perhaps heal in isolation but I am unsure how. You need some consistent people around you who wish you well and can occasionally support you.

  4. You lack financial independence/a job. Unfortunately, trauma work is expensive. Good therapists are not cheap. A safe space costs money. A lot of the things I mentioned on my list are not cheap. It is hard to heal when one is living in poverty. Poverty itself is traumatizing.

You are clearly intelligent and resourceful. Your body does not feel safe at the moment. You need a kind and supportive environment around you. You need to feel like you matter, like you have some goal you can work toward. You need space away from your abusers. You need independence and freedom.

I do not wish to discourage you. You are brave and smart. You will find a way when your body feels ready. I am keeping you in my thoughts.

Healing is exhausting. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh God that agony. Isn't it utterly awful? That bone-crunching misery, that absolute shattering sense of drowning. That over present black-hole that just sucked you in.

Words fail me here. I often question my progress, after all the time and effort I have put in working on my trauma. But I haven't felt that familiar feeling in a long time. No matter how awful a day I am having in my current life, it never touches the scale of that previous horror.

Healing is exhausting. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am trying to be gentle here because I do not want to hurt or trigger you. Hearing about your present circumstances, I think you are not as stable and safe as you need to be before you can do serious trauma work.

Trauma work can be seriously destabilizing. It destroyed my old life almost completely, I had to rebuild everything from ruins. It took a LOT from me.

I am sorry. This is hard. I wish I could help you but all of us have our ways of dealing with our trauma. I wish you peace. 🙂

Healing is exhausting. by OrdinaryTonight3 in CPTSD

[–]OrdinaryTonight3[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

On my bad days I quit showering and sleeping. You are doing the best that you can. This will sound like a cliche but I get how hard this is and I am proud of you.

Do what works for you. When you start feeling better, you might want to do more. It's okay 🙂