The most bewildering, exhausting and malignant form narcissist parent abuse

 Hi friends. I'm absolutely exhausted, physically and emotionally. I hurt everywhere. My back, hands, neck, shoulders, hips and feet ache. My mind aches. I spend a great deal of time in that rundown, uncomfortable state. I haven't had a super busy day. My nights are actually busier with the endless trauma nightmares. But just moving takes more energy than I have. I've been unable to keep my eyes open since about 5 pm. And this is just one component of CPTSD from narcissist parent abuse. Decades of dealing with it have worn me down. 

And do you want to know the most pernicious, bewildering, malignant and draining form of narcissist parent abuse? Among the many ways they hurt us, the betrayal is the worst. The set-ups, sucker punches, backstabbing, spiteful digs, unexpected ambushes and sneak attacks. They way they purposely behave toward us in hateful passive-aggressive, nasty ways, to corrode our sense of self and erode any confidence we may have is just mind-boggling. I would say that confusion, with its concomitant fear and anxiety, might be the most prevalent feeling. 

Malignant narcissist parents don't just inadvertently confuse their children. They go out of their way to. My four narcissist parents (two bio and two step) put me in needlessly chaotic situations on a regular basis. They left me with strangers not saying where they were going or when they would be back. They quit jobs on a whim without making financial provisions. They brought in a succession of new people into my life as parents and siblings. They moved very frequently and uprooting me. I've lived or stayed in 42 different places, 39 of which in the first 22 years of my life prior to marriage. At least 8 were squatting situations in which we lived with other people. I attended eight different schools. I come home from school only to be told to pack because we're moving. Or that I was being moved in with this or that family member. 

I was the only child of my parents and the only one that experienced this chaos. Their new families had consistency. I was just sort of an after thought. Except not even that, because I was very much expected to care for all these people as well. They only remembered I was there when they wanted something. and they demanded a lot. As if I was the adult and parent, not the child. And they were the selfish, willful, immature kids. I've spent a lot of time giving from resources I don't have. My parents made choices based on their new families' needs, never on mine. As my husband said I was shoved from pillar to post and then back to pillar. I never had a regular source of basic necessities like food, shelter, a bed or medical care. I had few possessions and those I had seemed to disappear without warning. 

This deprivation was not normal for the time nor places I lived. No one in my social or family group lived with anything like this. My PARENTS didn't do without. All four had plenty of nice things, food to eat, clothing, medical care, even hobbies. I always believed them when they said "we're poor." So I would do without, thinking that was helping "the family." It took me 50  years to realized the family had plenty of money, just not for me. Which made it even more impossible to explain. You just don't expect one kid to be singled out like this. This kicking to the curb, happens a lot unfortunately, in "blended" families to only child of first marriages. I don't really care for that word because so often they aren't blended and there's a lot of exclusion, favoritism and scapegoating. 

Even loving extended family misses it, sometimes. I never do. I can spot an excluded neglected "step kid" a mile away. Now. It's taken me a lifetime to see its effects in me. But looking back, I can see them now. They include:

Non-existent self-care skills. I remember, starting around 10, being invited places and never knowing to pack a suitcase because I didn't have a suitcase to pack. I wasn't used to being provided for. I only knew that if I needed something as simple as sunscreen, Midol for periods, sanitary pads, winter boots and gloves. I had to provide it for myself. And my part time job during school didn't cover those so I went without. I remember getting hives at a slumber party because my mom hadn't bothered to wash the new PJs I got for Christmas. Then she was off and a date and the girl's mother couldn't locate her so she could come and get me. That girl's mom was more concerned for me than my mom who was only concerned about being with her current boyfriend. And who knew where my dad was. 

Having to do for yourself too young and not knowing how. This is part of the confusion I spoke of. No parent helped me through any situation I encountered, as I recall. It wouldn't have occurred to me to ask, even the simplest of things all kids ask their parents for. Or don't even need to because the parent is involved. I, on the other hand, was taught that my only concern should be for my (their) family. Of which I wasn't even a part. I was just "allowed" to live with them as if parenting me was an option. 

Only knowing people pleasing and caring for others. Funnily enough, I knew very what other people needed. I've lived under a weight of obligation and expectation. I've known how to change a diaper since I was 9. I was potty training my mom's foster kids and cleaning up their accidents around age 10. I was rocking the babies to sleep. I've cooked, cleaned, bathed their kids, babysat, co-slept with their kids, washed dishes, ironed, vacuumed, dusted, mopped (on hands and knees) their things since around that age too. There wasn't much they had to do for themselves. And they did nothing for me. I was given cast offs including a pillow with a needle in it. No joke. I slept on an unheated porch through a Michigan winter because my welfare dependent mother bought her deadbeat husband a hobby farm with my child support and it wasn't big enough to house her children. 

Being easily taken advantage of. And on that note, back to the confusion. You don't know unless someone tells you, that this isn't childhood, it's child exploitation. And endangerment. Now years later, I trauma dream and have all kinds of chronic pain issues from sleeping cramped up on a cot in the baby's room. Or from doing mountains of  ironing. And having to scale snowbanks to take frozen diapers off the line in winter. None of this my stepmother did for herself or her children. Why would she when she had me to order around? 

Disabled. I started with early onset arthritis around age 21, from overwork and neglected follow up care of congenital hip dysplasia. Instead of taking me for check ups after being braced, they dragged me to Alaska and made me sleep on the floor. They didn't even see to it I was safe and left me to wander downtown in unfamiliar places. They didn't get treatment for my ongoing strep throat and it went septic. They didn't have my eyes checked till I was almost blind. I got frequent headaches from an untreated broken cheekbone and concussion. 

Destabilized and inept. As if adolescence isn't hard enough, having to care for four narcissist parents and their children made it hell on earth. I didn't know that what I was feeling was misery, shame, humiliation and guilt, but I do now. It shows in my pictures. That confusion, born of neglect and abuse, comes from not understanding why these people who call themselves your parents seem so angry with you all the time. When you are doing all their work? And why your life looks so different than everyone else's. You just never seem to get it right and your parents are the first to remind you of that. They nitpick and criticize everything. Pleasing them, an impossible task, becomes your only agenda. 

Too tired to think clearly. The confusion makes you tired. The deprivation drains you. The constant demands and tapping out of your resources makes it hard to process situations. I used to say I had dyslexia because I've had so much trouble just remembering  basic things or keeping things straight. My parents used to joke that I was "forgetful" and clumsy. Humph. I wish I could forget what they did to me. And I wasn't clumsy, I was bent and twisted from too much manual labor too young.  And my vision was shot to hell through lack of proper vision care. 

But I'm not confused anymore. I know what happened, that it did happen and why. Malignant narcissist parents purposely deprive you to keep you weak, to break down your resistance. They retard you, lie to you and gaslight you, to keep you bewildered. They render you useless for anything but service. Just trying to get a few minutes between chores which no one else has, to do your homework is almost impossible. Because they want you to fail at school so you'll never amount to anything and have to stay and care for them. They make you think you're a failure at relationships. They pot stir to break up your relationships. They set you up. They spread rumors and start smear campaigns. They flirt with your boyfriend to sow seeds of discontent. They lie and say your husband hit on them to triangulate, make you jealous, humiliate you and hopefully cause a divorce because that way they wont' feel so badly about getting one themselves. 

All this is self-serving and goal-oriented. They weaken your resistance, and damage your brain so you think you're dependent on them. They think you'll come crawling back, weak and exhausted and they'll have you where they want you. Just saying, I'd live on the street before I'd ever go back to them. That is not coming home. There never was a home. It's just re-upping for another tour of duty with them. 

One way out of this fog, is to know that it's not real. They've created it, not just with gaslighting but with gassing you. We aren't weak, or helpless, or dependent on them. Hell, they were never there for us!! They were dependent ON us! They just miss the free stuff we gave. Your parents called. They want their unpaid staff back! 

We are more than enough. We owe no one anything. We gave already, for more than we should have. They took more than we gave. What we need to do with give ourselves what we were deprived of: rest, nourishment, care. Once we have better resources, we'll see their chiaroscuro they've painted us in, for what it is, exaggerated, orchestrated and artificially created for effect. Essentially, all smoke and mirrors. 

Gaslighting holiday games narcissist parents play when you've gone no contact

Hello my friends. Recently I wrote about what inevitably happens to aging narcissist parents. And one biggee is that many people limit or cut contact because they are so toxic. Today in my quest to heal from narcissist parent abuse, I'll discuss gaslighting holiday games they'll play to suck you back in, if you go no contact. Yes I said holiday games. Because they specifically manipulate the holiday season, when people are more vulnerable. 

Gift-giving Gotcha. Beware of narcissists bearing gifts. Like the Trojan Horse, a narcissist's gift will have a double self-serving purpose. And the obvious nice part is nullified by the nasty surprise hidden inside. My mother gave me money for rent saying it was a gift. Later, she changed her tune saying it was a loan. She lied and said I'd agreed which I hadn't but that's gaslighting for you. She demanded not only repayment but also interest. 

Family Word Games. Malignant narcissist parents play fast and loose with the words like family, parents and siblings. They define them as it suits. Your mom's boyfriend is your stepdad but only for the bossing around and taking part, not the giving care. You're supposed to do for them because "we're family." But when they do for you, even as a little child, it's a transaction which you owe for. My dad called his wife my stepmother. She never cared for me but I was expected to wait on her. She, with my dad's approval, said they'd allow me to live with them (like it was optional) but under the condition that I do all kinds of ridiculous, inappropriate and harmful housework. My mom's jobless husband was on board for the free house over which he ruled, funded by my child support and job. Their new kids are your siblings that you are responsible for. Neither they nor your parents are responsible to or for you. 

Financial Flip-Flop Frolics. When narcissist parents give you things, it's a loan or has strings attached. When you give them money it's a gift. And they don't borrow, they demand or steal. Like how my mom stole my college savings from grandparents. Then she continued to pocket my child support to fund her shiny new family while I had to get a job at 15 to buy basic essentials Then they  kicked me out of the house. But any "gift" of money from them always has lots of strings. Like the rent which she twisted Which of course, if I'd known it was a loan, I'd have paid it back sooner so as not to accrue interest. Which is how I know she was scamming. She waited to collect so there would be more interest. 

Christmas present shuffleboard. Nothing is simple or genuine with narcissist parents. Especially at Christmas which seems to bring out the worst in them. It's a big exhausting guessing game. They give only to get. They give you a bunch of junk you don't want or need and didn't ask for. Then pout because you didn't get them what they wanted. They give you a $5 Christmas gift and demand a $100 one from you. Or they brag about the lavish gifts they gave themselves, making sure you see the contrast with yours. 

Ding dong ditch.  So you cut contact with your narcissist parent who has cut contact with you all your life. She doesn't answer your calls or respond to texts unless she want's something. She tells piteous stories about how she can't hear her phone. But hears your sisters' texts a miles. She makes She makes snide remarks about "people always on their phones" and then spends your lunch date on her phone (the phone YOU bought her and are paying for) with your sister. She orders food for "her family" on you dime. She accepts your invitations and then doesn't show up or call. Or she bails at the last minute leaving you in the lurch. Or she comes, eats and then conveniently gets sick at clean up time. She expects you to pay for everything. 

Dealer's Choice. Narcissists can deal crap but they can't take it. When you stop responding to her texts or calls, oh she doesn't like that! How dare you ignore me ignoring you! Or if you get her the same lame joke type gift she gets you, suddenly it's not so funny. Especially if  you  make a point of giving everyone else big gifts in front of her, like she always did to you. I'll be the one doing the humiliating, not you! 

Vengeance is mine saith the narcissist. One of the saddest parts when you finally cut contact with the narcissist parent is that she doesn't seem to notice or care. She notices but she acts like she doesn't because she wants you to feel her contemptuous disdain. She is punishing you for refusing to take her shit anymore. But she also reveals a lot about herself to you. She never cared about you and gets her jollies off making you feel worthless.  

The Long Game. When I cut contact, I didn't make any big announcement. I just stopped responding. So she knew, but being dismissive of anything that doesn't fit her fantasy, pretends not to notice. She'd cut her tongue out before admitting she missed me. Or God forbid did anything to cause me to cut contact. But that doesn't mean she'll go quietly. Oh no, she calls the shots her. She bides her time and keeps her cards close to her chest. But she has a plan, of that I have no doubt. I'll let you have your little hissy fit (which I'm sure she calls it) but just you wait. 

DARVOlympics When my narcissist mother deemed my trial separation had gone on long enough, she sent me the least sincere most gaslighty apology text you can imagine. You know the kind. Not "I'm sorry I did that" but "You never text me anymore. Did I do anything to offend you? So not admitting anything, just fishing for info and mind-reading. And minimizing: She doesn't do anything wrong or if she did it wasn't a big deal. I'm just choosing to be offended (even though she has no idea what it could possibly be) Which if you've read my back posts, you'll know. She knows too. But let's keep focus on the real victim here, which is always mother. 

Hook, Line and Sinker. I never responded to that text either. And apparently she's decided to continue ignoring the herd of elephants over-running the house. Now, she'll randomly sends me fakey, breezy texts as if nothing has happened. But they are only ever about her. I had a car accident, major surgery and Covid and nary a word. But she makes sure I know the progress of her non-existent ailments. Or about some relative of her husband's that neither of us know, who passed (while she blatantly ignored my own father's passing. She almost tricked me into responding to a text asking how our weather was. I was going to tell her how my husband was in a terrible accident. But then I stopped because I realized these are texts of concern. They're data gathering. She'd have probably tried to sell me some crap car they were trying to flip, like she did before. 

The Parent Trap. You have to be very cautious after going no contact with narcissist parents. Because traumatized kids are usually far too empathetic and used to giving their callous, self-centered, entitled parents whatever they want. Your parents know you're vulnerable and weaponize that. So you can cut contact with mom so long as it works for her.  But if she wants anything you'd better give it to her. And you very easily fall back into the trap of doing so because it's all you know. You've never had the luxury of having boundaries, needs, wants, opinions or a self. They stole all of it. Which is why you had to go no contact in the first place. 

Blame-shame game with word salad buffet. My dad and stepmom were masters at it. It's played like this. Daughter is finally able to distance herself from her neglectful, abusive, exploitative parents. She doesn't take revenge, just allows doors they closed to stay closed. She doesn't beg to be let in. And parent DARVO's and blames the CHILD for all the terrible things they did. My stepmother told me I was the the entire problem in their so perfect (heavy sarcasm) family. I who had been beaten by, screamed at, publicly humiliated, enslaved to them was "so angry". I cannot begin to tell you how insanely hypocritical and ridiculous it was. I wish I had at the time but she was good at this DARVO gaslighting game. And that is why you can't engage with them. They are way too skilled and you are way too gentle. You bring flowers to their gun fight. 

Word salad part: they know just what to say to trigger, guilt and antagonize you. They twist their abuse into some kind of quarrel between you. It's not it was only ever ambush on their part. And then say you should make peace. All you've ever done was to keep peace at any price with disagreeable, antagonistic, pot-stirring, rageomaniacs.  Or they'll say "truce?" in this snarky, patronizing way.  To which I've started saying "were we fighting? No one told me." They say "there are two sides to every story" by which I guess they mean there are reasons for abusing a child ?!? And yes there are but yours was the only one we ever heard. 

Religious Shell Game None of my parents that have passed ever admitted to anything. And I'm fairly certain the remaining two will follow that lead. Which is  hilarious because they are self-styled preachers, well, preaching to everyone else but themselves. They are firmly convinced of their own righteousness. You should read my mother's Facebook posts about what hell  holds for everyone but her. It boggles. They don't even attend church. It's just the Gospel according to St. Nancy. If my dad was ever confronted with anything he did, he'd shut it down with "it's covered by the blood." Translation, it's all good with God even though he never confessed anything. But boy, did he withhold mercy me. You see, God's blessing are for them and them only. The rest of us can just burn. 

Last minute epiphany. AKA deathbed confession. BEWARE of this one. My mother once "confessed" to me that she'd thrown a pie in my face. 25 years later. She didn't say she was wrong. I think she just wanted me to feel icky about it, again. And then she blamed me for making her do it (!) And then another time she called me to verify if she'd done something she'd lied over the years about doing. But when I brought up just one of the egregious things she'd done, she couldn't remember KICKING ME OUT OF THE HOUSE AT 16! 

And that's why you should watch out if the narcissist parent wants to unburden. Because that's all it will be. Them dumping. And usually they won't even fess up. They'll ask you to tell them what they did wrong. Which just proves they're aren't sorry. Sorry people soul search. And it's not genuine confession. They just want to know what you remember so they know which lies to tell. And they will then do one of several gaslighting tricks all of which will hurt. They will DARVO or say they forgot. They'll make you do all the work while they dictate terms and adjudicate what they will accept or not. And you'll have to relive all that pain again. And they want to see you suffer again. They aren't trying to help you. They're buying fire insurance. They want absolution without being least bit sorry. 

They will wait till the last possible moment savoring all the juiciness of their sins. And cuz they're old you have to forgive them. Their confession will not be contrite. It will be contrived to get you to confess to something. So they can feel superior. They want validation not reconciliation. Well, God may accept last minute plea bargaining but you don't have to. The best I've got by way of forgiveness is to acknowledge that yup, it happened. 

Unmasking ignorant advice about narcissist parent abuse for the poison it is

Hello my friends. Today on the road to recovery from childhood trauma, I'm going to share some ignorant advice about narcissist parent abuse we all should ignore. First, what constitutes ignorant. It's almost always unsolicited and it's not really advice. It's trite, nonsensical cliche dressed as wise or even prescient. But it's said without any pause for thought and usually has no bearing on what you said. They just pop out with it so you know they weren't listening. And you also know that if they say silly platitudes once, they do this all the time. And by all these, you know to avoid them as not helpful, but poisonous, insidious brain rot that derails your recovery. 

"Every family has problems." Said after you have just told them some horrific thing that your narcissist parent did, like my mom throwing a pie in my face at her company work party. It's not even advice but argumentative retort. As if they are making excuses for your parents' vile actions or like your story is up for debate? And you might feel ashamed for defending yourself or "dramatizing" because it is partially true. All families do have problems. But don't. Because the part that is true is a generalization and the more important part that's not is that all families DO NOT have problems like what you describe. Normal parents do NOT do shit like this. Your "friend" wants you to feel guilty or that you're overreacting. Or even lying or showing off. You're not. It's just her weird agenda.  Hear it for what it is: gaslighting, minimizing and invalidation. 

"Just don't think about it." A lifetime of abuse and neglect by narcissistic parents. Don't think (feel, remember) it?? Seriously? Well, that's actually impossible. There's a psychological theory outlining how impossible. Ironic processing theory or the "white bear problem." If told not to think of a white bear, that's immediately what we think of. Trying not to think of something makes you think of it more. And cutsey adages like this are hypocritical because these same people cling like barnacles on to wrongs done to them. AND, been there, been forced to not think or feel. And that's why I'm in the mess today. 

"Let go and let God." Love to. Problem is, it won't let me go. I've prayed to be released from endless, nightly trauma nightmares. And still they come. Does God have a plan? We're told He does. But me clicking my heels together and chanting this does about as much good as trying not to think of a white bear. And again, it's much easier preached than done. You let go and let God next time you're stuck in an abusive family system. Or any other impossible situation. What you seem not to get is that the damage was done from the womb. My mother thought it was funny to go out dancing and drinking at a bar when pregnant. For attention. And that was with her golden child. I can't imagine what she did when preggie with me. How is a fetus, infant or little child, groomed to serve her narcissist parents as God, supposed to differentiate between these evil deities and some benevolent one they are told loves them? 

"Let it go. Forget about it. You're stuck in the past. You're dwelling on it." And other such ridiculous comments. One big problem with these judgmental shaming sayings is that they are just that, nonsensical preachy prattle. But you might be surprised at how often people trot them out, especially, weirdly, after you have just told them some outrageous thing your parents did. And you might also be shocked that THERAPISTS say this shit. To people who are trying to do just that. But then when you say that you want to forget, to bury the memories and be done, they turn around and say "you can't do that." Ummm, am I missing something here? One minute you are accusing me of purposely clinging onto past hurts and the next that it's impossible not to? WTF? 

"You should just forgive." Oh, lovely. So now, you're accusing me of being unforgiving? Of cherishing some kind of resentment? What do you think I've been doing all these years but excusing, exonerating, covering for, blaming myself, taking responsibility for, their actions? If that's not forgiveness, please, tell me what is? AND THEY ARE NOT SORRY!! They've never even admitted to anything or they've just gaslit me that "it wasn't that bad. You're too sensitive. You're showing off. This is God's will that we abuse you." Even God doesn't forgive what hasn't been repented from. Yes, forgiveness is conditional not just a blanket to cover it up. So I have to give them what even God doesn't? Free license to keep abusing? Oh, you didn't meant that, huh? So tell me, what do you mean? Because if they aren't sorry, and you know what they did, it sounds to me like you're saying to turn a blind eye, pretend it didn't happen, say it's okay. And that is in direct contradiction to God's idea of forgiveness. AND I've always done that anyway. And look where it got me! Even more harmed. Because this, like all other toxic positivity, gets the order of operations wrong. It victim blames and shames and puts all the responsibility on them. Which is what our parents have always done to us. 

"You have to make peace, be the bigger person, rise above." Hell, lady, it took me almost 6 decades to realize any of what they did was wrong. But now, before I've even begun to process it, when I have no self-care skills beyond trauma responses. When I'm destroyed by CPTSD, I still have to fix it? I don't even fully understand the full extent of the damage. I don't even know what that means (and neither do you) But I know that I have been keeping schtum, making peace, rising above and being the bigger person all my life. These are THE VERY TRAUMA RESPONSES  that are killing me! But the priority, according to you, is not me healing but me tolerating more abuse. It's still and always about defending them at my expense. And, AND, after all their expectation, entitlement, manipulation, cruelty, I'm STILL the one who OWES THEM something? They stuck the dagger in and you're pushing it deeper telling me this. 

"You're not going to like this but I'm going to be brutally honest, as your friend." This shit is said after you have just shared something super sensitive. Or it comes out of the blue. And it is twistedly passive-aggressive. I can feel my stomach tensing for the blow, just writing this. She sets you up to feel ashamed by predicting you won't like it. As if you are naughty child resisting her wise reproof. But you can read her motives in the fact that she says it precisely when you are vulnerable. She's neither honest, nor your friend. She is a bully and knows it. So she plays DARVO to make you think you're the benighted idiot and she's the misunderstood voice of truth. Please run from this horse manure. 

"Cheer up." This might be the creepiest one of all for its insidiousness. It sounds affirmation-ish but it is actually imperative toxic positivity. The full statement is "you should cheer up." And what they also aren't saying is that they won't help you by doing kind things that might make you feel better. They're just scolding you. And who are they to dictate how you feel or should feel? No one knows what another person is feeling. Also, cheer is not a verb in this sentence. So it is nothing you can actually do. They don't care if you are depressed or not. You may not even be acting down. They just, for whatever bizarre motives of their own, want you think you're acting down and feel guilty for not being Rosie Sunshine at every moment. It is also insanely dismissive of your very real pain. Very likely the people saying it are the ones who've caused your pain. 

"Lighten up." This "cheer up" on crack. And again, what does it mean? I'm not the Lorax. I can't lift myself. It was said to me my dad, with his customary smug, supercilious finger-pointing. Ironically, after he had done or encouraged his wife or one of his shiny new kids to do yet another awful thing to me.  Like I was doing something wrong by being, what too serious? They punished me if I didn't take their cruel punishment serious enough!  And further, the "heaviest" more oversensitive,  easily enraged, melodramatic man I ever knew, who routinely, since I was 5, described to me how he was planning to commit suicide, telling me I'm over-sensitive??? Me, who absorbed all their shit so they didn't have to, should lighten up????  He could strain at a gnat but told me to swallow a camel. I'm so saturated with their ick, it would be impossible to lighten up. And he knew it. The translation is "put up, shut up, paste on a perma-grin, bend over for more and like it." God forbid Jack actually feel or admit to doing his daughter wrong. Much easier to DARVO and make her feel suicidal. 

So obviously, there's a lot wrong with each of these sayings. And with people who say them.  But they reveal themselves as the self-righteous, hypocrisy they are by several facts. If you ask what they mean, they can never tell you. They only recite, never explain. "Rise above" what does that look like? It's nonsense. Wait, no not just nonsense. These are, hurtful, undermining, invalidating, condescending covert attacks. The person saying them does not care for you. They're trying to make themselves feel important by belittling you. And they NEVER actually take their own advice. The same people who preach peace, patience and rainbow pony poop, will in the next breath, bitch and moan about the most inconsequential petty gripes they've hung on to for decades. But don't you dare preach their advice back at them. Because they will DARVO and call YOU insensitive, cruel and nasty. They only hear what's wrong with this nonsense when it's said to them. They have two distinct sets of rules for you and for them. 

It took me 61 years to begin to understand just how destructive these saying are. To hear the insidious shaming. And to see the folks who say them for what they are. And, too late, the brain damage is done. They've embedded in my core. The toxins poison my dreams. And I repeat them to myself, by default. I have to continually and consciously talk back to these voices, these flying monkeys in my head. And it is exhausting, debilitating and overwhelming. 

So I challenge us all. If someone launches any of these missiles at us, hear them for what they are. And end the conversation and friendship there. Before they have a chance to take root.  And start immediately to detox with healing affirmations. I'll blog more on that later. 

How to expose malignant narcissist parents to heal from their cruelty

 Hello my friends. Today in my quest to heal CPTSD from narcissistic parent abuse, I'm reflecting on some vlogs by my favorite Youtube therapist/psychologist, Dr. Ramani. She shares a great deal of insight on narcissism. And based off that and my own experiences at the hands of four narcissistic parents (two bio and their partners), I'm going to explain how to expose a narcissist parent to avoid their cruelty. 

First let me make a disclaimer. I'm not talking about publicly exposing them. Or even exposing them to themselves. I don't have near the experience or fabulous for that. I'm running on fumes, emotionally, and confidence is not in my toolbox. And furthermore, it's not advisable, as per the experts and my own experiences, to do that. Malignant narcissist parents, with their dark tetrad exploitative, arrogant, entitled, manipulative, nasty, spiteful behavior  are FAAAARRRR too good at the this game for me to safely unmask them. 

What I'm talking about is exposing, to myself and my trauma brain, what they did and how it affects me now. I'm taking my own side, for a change. I'm taking myself out of the scapegoat seat they stuck me in and putting responsibility back on them, where it belongs.  And I'm doing this by showing myself (and you if you need to hear it) just how they operate, and what red flags to notice, so we can avoid their cruelty. 

Look past the gaslighting fog. So we use this term gaslighting to mean a con job in which they deny reality and paint a false new one for us. But I think gassing is a more accurate description. They pollute our minds and damage our brains with sick, twisted lies, poisonous fabrications and evil spun narratives. Narcissist parents reinvent our reality and implant wrong ideas which we grow up thinking are true. And I know, you're thinking, okay but how do we do this? Good question. We begin to...

Hear the self-serving lie for what it is. Catch them in one manipulative, arrogant, exploitative lie. It just takes one. And like cockroaches, where there's one, there's more. As you see the deceit, you can begin to connect the dots and see other deceptions and lies. Pretty soon, you'll notice that there's more fake than real, more lie than truth in your relationship. That's when the entire narcissistic fantasy the fed you, starts to unravel before your eyes. 

Trick them into revealing their selfish con game. Turn about is fair play with narcissist parents, if it means you get some healing. Do this by asking them about something you know for a fact happened, but they've never admitted to. Pretend you don't remember and are just asking for clarification. Make it something tame, or better still, something that makes you look bad, but beware. Nothing is simple for narcissists, especially vulnerable ones, who are always looking for insults to personalize. The most innocent question can set them off. They're paranoid because they're  liars and cheats. They often forget who they told what. But that over-reaction in itself is revealing. And so is the way they deny, lie and DARVO.  I managed to trap my mom by "admitting" that I had disobeyed her, at FOUR y/o by using bathroom in the park, three blocks away, where she had sent me to play ALONE and where a known pedophile hung out. She had previously denied this but after I "confessed" she smugly said "I knew you lied about it" Which she thought would make me feel ashamed but which was in fact, an admission that she was not supervising me at the park. 

Stop auto-gaslighting. I've always defended, shielded, taken responsibility and did damage control for my parents' irresponsible, malicious chaos. It's like I had hands on eyes and fingers in ears so I couldn't see or hear what they did. Over the years, I took their gaslighting of me on myself. My memory is very patchy as a result (gaslighting doesn't rewrite history, but it does mess with  your memories of it). But some things, by their egregiously bizarre nature, stand out. What opened my eyes to my mother's lies was, when at her doc appt, she was asked to list all her surgeries. I reminded her of one she had in Alaska (where we'd moved to from Michigan to be "missionaries" which was a huge farce but I digress). My dad was supposedly on a "mission trip" and she had left him and moved us to a remote island. (no home, no job or money, just squatting, again). After we were there for a few weeks, she left me with strangers for a week, to go to Seattle to have surgery for a bladder infection, she said. (This is how it was presented to me). When I brought it up, she irritably shut me down and denied ever having surgery or going to Seattle at all. Which I know by the trauma nightmares of that experience, happened. 

Stop making excuses for them to yourself. I realized that she was lying then and is still lying. I don't know why she lied, but it wasn't to protect me, just herself. I have no idea where she went or what happened. I just know she disappeared, just like my dad, and it terrified me. Now as an adult, I call it what it was. Abandonment.

Connect the dots. Looking back I recall they did that a lot, left little me alone, in unsafe, unfamiliar places. With dangerous people. And they did it and other neglectful, abusive things away from eyes who would have cared.  I also see that my mom's lie at the doctor's office was more than just that one lie. It is part of a lifetime pattern of gaslighting. So many disturbing she said and did, and justified, and hypocritically preached against, have now proved to be the unethical, illegal, immoral, unsafe things they always were but I didn't see.  Things like telling 8 y/o me it was good she was sleeping with a married man because she was trying to win him over to Jesus. Yes, that is a true story. 

Ask trusted people for feedback. Ask what their childhood experiences were. Ask objectively, without sharing personal experiences immediately, their opinion of things that happened to you. Ask how they would feel if thus and such happened to them. I'm not saying be cagey and if they ask, you can say this happened to you. If they knew your parents, ask what their impressions were/are. I've gotten incredible awareness from things friends have shared. My cousin met my mom for the first time and she did some weird thing which I had overlooked, as usual. He immediately identified what was wrong with it. He was able to help me, who was too close to and too historically gaslit by her to see clearly what she was doing. 

Ask AI. I'm serious. I have conversations with Gemini about things that happened to me to get perspective. Ask if this is narcissistic type behavior. Many of the things they did, that I've downplayed over the years, turn out to be actionable abuse, abandonment, endangerment, neglect, then and now. And Gemini has sound sources to prove it. In fact, AI will often say, if this is happening to you or someone you know, report it and here's where. One benefit of asking AI over real people is that AI does not have the capability of gaslighting, shaming or invalidating you. AI has no personal agenda to protect unlike flying monkeys do. 

So let's recap. We're not looking to "out" anyone, except to ourselves. That's not our motive. And it wouldn't be safe anyway.  A cornered malignant narcissist is deadly. We're not attacking. We're just trying to defend ourselves from attack by them, by identifying that malignant narcissist parents are dangerous. We ARE blaming them and we need to. They have blamed us for their problems all our lives. They've scapegoated, manipulated, triangulated, exploited and abused us. And it's time to put responsibility for that back where it belongs and stop taking their issues on ourselves. 

How aging narcissist parents ultimately and inevitably end up (spoiler alert, not well)

Hello my friends. I've been writing a lot about my past with four narcissist parents, two bio and their partners. I've explored my childhood, growing up, early and middle adulthood.  Now at 61, I've finally gone no contact with the ones that are still alive. We've discussed how their abuse, neglect, endangerment, abandonment, exploitation, invalidation, triangulation, scapegoating and gaslighting about it all, damaged me. What we haven't discussed are the effects of this lifetime of nastiness on the narcissists themselves. So today, I'll share, from my experiences, how aging narcissist parents ultimately and inevitably end up. And, spoiler alert, it ain't pretty.

Narcissists implode on themselves as they age. Narcissists are very dysfunctional, to say the least. Their grandiosity, arrogance, entitlement, exploitative and often cruel behavior isn't sustainable. Their pathological jealousy, deceit, bitterness, rage, disagreeableness, competitiveness, haughty pride, petulance, venom, bile is corrosive not only to others but to themselves.  All their dark tetrad traits rot them from the inside out. 

Narcissists collapse under the weight of their own pride-swollen heads. Pride goes before a fall, we're told. Narcissist believe they aren't  just equal to God, they are gods. Which of course, being just mortal these delusions and illusions are impossible to maintain. They trip over their own inflated egos. 

A narcissist's charm fades. When they were younger, sexier, cuter, they got away with more. They were never as awesome as they thought but people were more inclined to turn a blind eye. She's young. She'll outgrow it. That's just how she is. But she never grows up. She just grows more entitled, arrogant and full of herself. And it's not cute anymore. 

The narcissist parents are outshone and outdone. Kids come along who really are cute and they are kryptonite to their narcissist parents. The parents, who expect to always be in the spotlight now have to share. Their masks slip and what they passed off as "just joking" funny and high-spirited is revealed as passive-aggressive and mean-spirited spite. She knows she's not getting younger and resents this. And the child just throws petrol on the flames. The sweeter and more loved the child is, the more jaded, vicious, malicious and petty the narcissist parents become.  And what was mildly annoying, toxifies as they age into intolerable. 

Narcissists get caught in their own web. Like spiders, narcissists spin elaborate webs of narcissistic fantasy using threads of deceit. Initially, when they are younger, they may be able to get away with spinning their alternate realities. But decades of continually twisting, distorting, convoluting and gaslighting comes back to bite them. They get confused by their own deceptions. They forget who they told which untruths. They get trapped and have to tell more lies which tighten the web around them even more. 

Narcissists burn bridges and blow through people like torches. The old saying goes, you can fool some of the people some of the time but not all the people all the time. Pretty soon, folks catch on to the narcissist's game. They start seeing the double standards, hypocrisy, superiority complexes, condescending, self-righteousness, back-stabbing, love bombing as the means to and end it is. People start realize that they don't matter to the narcissist. They are just useful. The narcissist wears out her welcome and people close the door to her. The few that hang around either can't leave, are too gaslighted to kick out the narcissist or have a vested interest in staying. 

Narcissists are both outed and blindsided by narcissism in others. Both my narcissistic parents ended up with others narcissists when they remarried. Their response proved them narcissists. Instead of soldiering on, trying to make the best of it, as I did when I got stuck with them as stepparents, my bio parents weaponized it. They pretend to suck up and then malign them behind their backs. Double whammy for me being stuck in the perpetual buffer role. Then they gaslit me into thinking I was responsible to and for them all. Triple whammy. They played DARVO and used me as a confidante to get pity because they were so "mistreated" by their new people. But also made me serve both them and the new people. Then they got narc supply sanctimoniously calling out the other arrogant people for their arrogance. Then, they switched again and suddenly were martyrs "forgiving" their narcissist mates and telling me I had to do likewise. For shit that  had only been done to me. How many whammies are we even on?? But it doesn't matter because sooner or later...

Narcissists suffocate themselves over time. It doesn't matter how many costume changes they make, how much twisting they do, how much gaslighting nonsense they say. All their immoral, cheating, scamming, unethical, irresponsible, impulsive, risky, chaotic, abusive, wickedness comes full circle. All the infidelity, bed-hopping, ambushes, attacks, smear campaigns, property damage, threats, insults, set-ups, slandering, child abuse and neglect, shady deals, theft, deceit: You cannot live like this and not have some backsplash. They face medical, financial, social, legal, employment, disciplinary consequences that are direct results of poor choices: bankruptcy, prison, lawsuits, STDs, divorce, getting fired, revenge cheating, you name it, it's coming for them.  

They run out of people to trample on and end up alone, helpless and afraid. You who have always rescued them, will be tempted to rescue them again. But you can't and shouldn't. No I'm really serious. Don't. They're not as helpless as they would like you to think. They just want you to do for them like you always have. They like being catered to. But they won't thank you. They'll just criticize, nitpick, whine, DARVO, punish and take advantage of you like they always have. All their usual dirty tricks. You will only get shit on for your trouble. Because they have never been accountable for their actions and always blamed and made others clean up after them. And always will. And look where it's gotten us. 

They will most likely die in their pride. Fact. No amount of money, pity, love, bailouts will stop that. Nothing will save them from their colossal arrogance but complete ruin. If anything can. If it can't, it's still not your problem. If they die in their pride, it's their choice. They got what they wanted. This is from the Bible, not me. 

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Weirdest of the weird ways my narcissist parents sabotaged simple joys for me

Hello my friends. Today on my journey to heal CPTSD from narcissistic parent abuse, I'm unpacking one of the many sucker punches my parents pulled on me.  I haven't thought of in 43 years. And in unpacking, I recall the intense pain and confusion it caused. So I said yesterday that narcissist parents are only interested in themselves. And they expect and demand their child will be so too. It's JFK revised "ask not what you can do for your child but rather what your child can do for you." They weren't interested in me, my needs, my hobbies, anything I did, unless they could insult or exploit it. And here's one of the weirder examples of that. 

The time is 1981. I'm in 10 th grade. Despite  having been shunted from pillar to post between my two chaotic, neglectful parents and their new partners, and being their servant-surrogate-scapegoat, I was an excellent student. My dad had moved yet again and uprooted me from yet another school. (He would not do this with his other kids). I moved in with  my mom because I needed a job and times being what they were, jobs were scarce. Why a 16 y/o needed a job was down to the fact that my parents refused to properly provide for me. My dad had plenty of hack for himself and his family but not enough to  provide even basic care for me. My mom and her chronically unemployed boyfriend/husband were on the dole. What I had was stolen or sold to "pay for my upkeep." Even my child support. 

So I say I was living with my mom and her husband. If you can call sleeping on an unheated porch, working as many hours as possible and keeping up with school,  buying my own clothes and sanitary products, supporting my lazy ass stepdad so he can sleep all day and throws a tire on the fire occasionally, living. And then it wasn't even that. At 17, I came home 15 minutes late and he ragingly kicked me out of the house with my mother's fond approval. I was homeless. Finally an impoverished elderly lady with a two room house, from our church took me in. Mom and stepdad continued to keep my child support. My dad was unconcerned about all this. Just told me God would take care of me. Hmmm. Did not visit me because "it was too far to drive." 

Anyway, through all that, I kept up my grades, job, was in a play, got myself to NYC and DC, was class secretary, on every committee, in honor society, etc. At church, I helped to start a youth group and a weekly church music jamboree, both of which became very successful. How it began was that several families were practicing for church service. These were family groups of musicians. I was helping set up for some church thing. I'd sung with a large choir in Grand Haven when living with my dad. But he sabotaged my confidence in singing, by telling me I was "showing off for attention" when I sang in the bathroom. (it wasn't till my husband asked, that I wondered why he was in the bathroom with me.) He also said I shouldn't aspire to solos because my voice was choir grade at best. And before you ask, no, he had no vocal training with which to judge. Yet he himself would sing loud and proud. 

Anyway, at this music practice, probably 12 people were tuning instruments, trying out songs, etc. On a whim, I timidly asked the pianist if he knew "I feel good" (Andre Crouch) as I saw he had the sheet music. He didn't, but asked me to sing it and maybe he could pick it up. As we worked it out, a woman stopped everyone, turned a mike toward me and said "don't be shy! Belt it out!" Then everyone began riffing along and our little group was born. 

We started meeting on Saturdays to practice and that led to the formation of what we called "gospel jamborees." We sang all the old songs plus some new ones. I got the idea to host companion bake sales to raise money for those in need. Several women offered to coordinate craft bazaars too. We added liturgical dance to our repertoire. Other people designed signage. I think these events were even advertised on local radio and news. There was a way that everyone could participate. We pulled in huge crowds for our small community, on Saturday nights. Kids at school came and said how impressed they were. I feel funny saying this but some treated me like a minor celebrity. I literally had groupies. 

And you know what was my favorite part? The sense of belonging. Every member was valued and we got along great! Because we all celebrated each other. By that time, I had several accompanists who loved playing for me. And I loved singing for them. No one ever said I was showing off. I was begged to sing as often as I could. It's hard to admit because it sounds vain to me, but everyone loved singing with me. I went on to represent our school at the first F.A.M.E. arts competition at the Frauenthal in Muskegon County. It included around 20 different school and thousands of kids. It still goes on today. 

Now you might think my parents would be proud. But they couldn't care less. No one except my grandparents showed up to this ginormous event. As I recall, my dad just sniffed and said he was too busy and anyway, he didn't want me to get a big head. To a kid who was basically homeless. 

But back to the singing group. When I invited my dad to hear us, he said, with his usual belittling that he wasn't interested. Then I invited him to come join us. He played violin of which he was very proud.  I liked my dad's playing, even though he was always sneering and supercilious about my singing. When they invited him to play, he was suddenly very interested. And from then on, it was the Jack Show and he was in charge. He couldn't be bothered to help me out when my mom and her husband kicked me out, at 16, to live on my own. It was too far to drive to attend any of my school stuff. But boy could he make it weekly for "his" group. 

Not only that but he told me I sang far too much and should give others a chance. I was ASKED to sing! I helped start the damn thing.  Everyone wondered why I stopped participating as much. They begged me to come back. Everyone except my dad. Oh he wanted me there to hear him. Even when I went off to college, he pestered me to come back to hear them. I was to be his audience not a member anymore. Never once did he ever offer to play and sing with me. He turned me down when I asked. My organist mother never wanted to accompany me either. 

My dad had a falling out with the other members left the group shortly afterwards. Maybe other people saw his arrogance too, I don't know. Wherever I went, I was asked to sing. In every other venue and church. Not bragging. Just a fact. It made people happy, especially the elderly who would ask me to sing this or that old song. But for me, it was heartbreaking and freaking confusing how everyone but my own family wanted to hear me. I can never sing without hearing the shaming voices. I thought it was because I wasn't good enough. Now I wonder if it was that neither parent collaborates. They compete. They don't sing in the choir, they dominate. But it's too late because the power of gaslighting, invalidation and shaming has crippled me. 

I'm 61 now. 44 years later and 38 years into marriage. And finally, I really examined that difficult experience. I told my husband and he was appalled. He'd never heard about this wonderful little thing we had in a tiny backwater called Holton and how my dad had ruined it. Evidently I'd never told him.  Because I never felt confident enough to share the good things we'd done. Nor admitted to myself THAT my dad had ruined it. I made excuses for him. Smoothed his feathers. Praised him. Felt sorry for him that people in the group (my friends) had "treated him so badly." Had not appreciated all he had done for them. Never a word about my involvement or any gratitude for welcoming him as he excluded me. 

It never occurred to me until two days ago, just how that experience affected me. How wonderful it was to be part of that lovely group of people. Then how a narcissist parent exploits and trashes every good thing for their child. How the joy of singing together must be destroyed so that the narcissist can get supply. That I never saw it. I just felt the pain. 

I want to thank Youtube psychologists like Jerry Wise, Dr. Ramani, Patrick Teahan, Danish Bashir and Dr. Les Carter. They have helped me understand where this was coming from. How narcissist parents sabotage their child's identity, peace of mind, confidence and joy. And why I have hurt so much because of it. 

Narcissist parents double standards ruin even the most innocent things for scapegoat kids

Hello my friends. Today in our quest to heal CPTSD from narcissistic parent abuse, let's look at how narcissist parents' double standards ruin even the simplest, most innocent childhood things for us. I'm thinking of things like hobbies, leisure activities, interests, friendships with other children, basic stuff.

ALL about them. NONE about us. The first and foremost thing to remember about narcissistic parents is that everything centers on them. This is very abnormal to the average family in which each member is a valued part. Many parents prioritize their kids to the exclusion of themselves. It may not be perfect, no family is, but a point is made to give kids their own space, bedrooms, preferences, possessions, special interests, etc. However all that is upended in for kids living under narcissist parents. Parents command  command the spotlight. Everyone else is just tech crew. Our focus is completely taken up by them so we have little time or energy for our own pursuits. Even my toys, belongings, college fund were stolen or "repurposed" to fund my parents hobbies. I was told it was "for the family." But I was only part of that "family" as live-in staff. 

Groomed to serve Children of narcissist parents, particularly the scapegoat, come into this world carrying a huge burden of debt to their parents. It wasn't great when my parents were married. They both exploited me for personal gain. But when they remarried (other narcissists) my list of obligations to them and all their offspring rivaled the national debt. I was indoctrinated into thinking was mine to pay off. I owed them loyalty, service, blind obedience, caregiving, parenting (!) They owed me nothing.  Even the simplest needs and wants were thwarted and diverted to feed their voracious appetites. I often went hungry or lived off my dad's MLM scheme Shaklee vitamins so my stepmom could have expensive diet food and cigarettes.  And my dad could fund his pricey nautical collection.  

One-sided transactions. So relationships are transactional even though we're told they shouldn't be.  Healthy people don't stay in situations where they are being taken advantage of. Unless they have no choice, like us poor children of narcissists. It was made very clear to us that they owed us nothing. Everything we get from them, which isn't much, comes with many strings attached. Moreover, we were also trained to believe we owed them the world with a fence around it. We exited the womb in debt to them up to our eyebrows. The world had let them down (sic) and they were gonna make damn sure their kid suffered the consequences. As TINY CHILDREN, we were already working like slaves to please our narcissist parents. And we spent our childhoods and lives paying off their bad debts, while they just kept irresponsibly incurring more, knowing their scapegoat would deal with it. And never once did they appreciate any of it. They just pocketed it and held out their greedy, grubby paws for more. 

Narcissist parents are alarmingly egocentric. They aren't just self-centered. They expect that everyone else revolves around them. When they arrive (loudly), they make theatrical entrances and grand gestures. It drives them nuts if no one notices them. Even sneering is preferable to ignoring. It seems not to even occur to them that others exist as individual people who have no interest at all in the narcissist and certainly won't cater to them. Needless to say, they constantly receive ego injuries because the rest of the world didn't know His Majesty was arriving and failed to roll out the red carpet. And then, oh how they punish their children for other's not giving them their due reverence. We must soothe, smooth, humor, buffer, make up for and bow even lower to salve their wounded pride. 

Narcissist parents upstage us. The level of venomous jealousy and entitlement in narcissists knows no bounds. And narcissist parents are the dead worst of all. Because they have young, as yet unmatured captive audiences whose little minds they can warp carte blanche. And because little kids are guileless and adorable without trying, this incenses the narcissist. They make everything a competition, from abilities, to relationships with peers, to games, everything. They will try to outshine us in our most innocent or vulnerable moments. When we thought we could count on them for cheering or support. We got jeering, shaming, prancing attention-seeking from the people who were supposed to enjoy our sunshine. 

Narcissist parents are insane hypocrites.  Judgmentally critical and scoffing when we're being applauded and larger-than-life braggarts when it's them. When the narcissist feels threatened by our abilities, like singing, they'll pull us aside (away from others who celebrate our talents) and tell us to quit showing off. All we're doing is singing and getting attention for it. They'll demean, belittle and humiliate. BUT they are crazy show-offs, ridiculously parading around like trained seals. We never saw that because 1) we were used to it 2) we were taught to showcase them and diminish ourselves. 

Narcissist parents are Pick-Me.  They don't share, they hog. Especially center stage. Attention from others, they think, is a commodity of which there is a scarcity. So where normal parents celebrate their children, narcissistic parents are jealous of and feel threatened by them.  They will do ANYTHING for attention, including shockingly dangerous, exploitative, humiliating and repulsive things. My mother used to strut around in weirdly provocative clothing when she was young, believing herself the sexiest  thing in the room, and working it. She always bragged about her body and freely tells anyone who listens that she sleeps naked. Then as she aged, she began wearing nightgowns in public. If she couldn't be the sexiest, she'd be the most pitiful. Either way, in the spotlight. 

Malignant narcissist parents get off on shock value. They don't just compete with their kids for attention, they do outrageous things to humiliate the child and then laugh at them. At their child's performance, social gathering of friends, or even place of work, the narcissist will do and say bizarre things loudly to assure all eyes are on her, whether for good or bad. A narc doesn't care how you attend her as long as you do. Best of all is when she can embarrass her child, such as shouting AMEN! at mass when she visits. 

So what exactly do narcissist parents ruin for their children? Pretty much everything they can get their mitts on. And because they have (or have gaslit us to believe they have) supreme control over their kids, that's pretty much everything. Everything from friends, to hobbies to talents, to needs and wants, to identity, to self-care. It's all belongs to them. They just let us to use, occasionally, what they don't currently need. But we're to keep it in readiness because that will change at a moment's notice. It's like we're the caretakers of their massive estates, never owning just working like hell to maintain. 

We can play but only when the narcissist has no need of us. And then they are so oddly and neglectfully absent that it beggars belief. I've told you how I played alone, in dangerous places, far from home starting around age 4. Neither parent had any idea nor cared where I was or with whom. I could have friends unless one of my parents needed them. My mother has actually hit on my boyfriends and husband, then vilified my girl friends when she needed to feel superior and then used those same people as confidantes, telling them highly inappropriate things to elicit pity. 

I could have a place to live when it was convenient for stepmother but I was presently with a long list of duties to earn that keep. I was my dad's buddy when he needed someone to dump on and his whipping girl when he wanted a scapegoat. I could have opinions whenever he told me what they were. I could eat if they didn't need the money for something else. I could have hobbies if they didn't interfere with Cinderella's mountain of  housework. But I had to pay for them myself and find rides. They didn't care who with. That didn't go well. I could only feel good about what I'd done if my dad didn't need an ego boost which he got by cutting me down.  I could share problems only if they could find a way to weaponize or shame it. Otherwise they didn't care. 

When I sang in the bathroom, trying out a vibrato, my dad said I was showing off. (Why he was in the bathroom with me, never occurred). When I got a new haircut, my mom insulted it. Then when I had  long beautiful hair she had it all cut off. When I made supper for her family, my stepmother tsk-tsked that I served it 20 minutes "late." (We did not have meal times because she never cooked). When I asked if I'd done the household cleaning to his specifications, my dad said I was fishing for compliments. When I made the mistake of expressing interest in ballet, I was told I was too fat, they couldn't afford lessons (there was plenty money for everyone else's hobbies) and besides dancing was immoral (!). My mother let her other daughter watch "Halloween" when she was 5.  And then when we chose Lord of the Rings when she stayed the night, she said it was evil and the devil was making her spirit restless. When I wore a bikini she said I was flaunting. When she wore one, it was fine. 

My dad so insulted my acting ability that I just kept quiet about the plays I was in. They came to see me in a Shakespeare show and while everyone else's family was congratulating their kids, mine just lookee pursed-lips disapproving and said it was "sinful." And yet my dad sang and played his violin very theatrically. He never wanted to hear about his grandkids' achievements, yet when we visited, all he could talk  about was "his" radio show, brag, brag, brag. When I did something that gave others' joy, it was "selfish attention-seeking." When he did things, in his big, self-important way, it was selflessly serving God. 

I got all kinds of confusing, manipulative, gaslighting messages about every single person I ever met. Unsafe, unscrupulous, unhinged and coercive people (including their creepy friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses) were pushed on me as good for me. Meanwhile actually good for me people were attacked, belittled and lied about. It just occurred to me today how my parents drove a wedge between me and all of those people whenever they could. More on that later. 

So where does that leave me now? Completely clueless as to what healthy needs and wants are. And baffled by and ashamed of my talents and gifts. And gaslit about being unable to do things they said I failed at. I fear doing anything and have zero confidence in my own abilities. I'm sure I'll screw it up because they always said I did. To be quite honest, I have no idea what I actually do well or poorly. If someone praises me, I hear only my (very show-off-y) parents voices scolding me for being "a show off." So I demure because God forbid I do that. 

When asked my preferences, I demur to others. I feel guilty for saying I want spaghetti for supper, even if I'm cooking it. I over-enthuse about everyone else's hobbies. I overcompensate so they'll never feel any consequences of their own behavior. I listen ad nauseum to their opinions and interests. No one ever asked about mine. And were bored to death and told me so, if I mentioned it. They weren't interested in anything I did, unless they could insult or exploit it. Nothing is sacred--school success, graduations, wedding, children, funerals. When my dad died, my mom never once said condolences. Her only thought was what she'd get from his estate and how she and her new husband of 50 years could lay hands on his social security. I am not kidding. 

So nothing escapes their greed and exploitation. In tomorrow's post, I'll tell a story about one such experience. Which might be of the weirdest of my life of weird.