Think aloud
The truth is, being emotionally broken changes your perspective of the entire world. It seems as if everything has lost its purpose and your emotions are a total wreck.
Sometimes you feel nothing – you’re numb to all the things happening around you. And then there are times where you are flooded by your own emotions and feel like you’ve lost control of yourself. There’s no in-between.
And dating a narcissist guy can make you feel that way. When you fall for a narcissist in disguise, your whole world turns upside down. It’s a living nightmare.
Only a woman who’s been emotionally broken by a narcissist will understand the following things.
1. The pain is there and it never leaves
No matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to hide your pain. Anything that goes on around you touches you in some way.
You try to bury the pain deep down inside yourself, but every time something happens, it resurfaces and overpowers you.
Everyone has a vulnerable side, but dating a narcissist made you extremely vulnerable and you can’t shake it. You tried, but failed miserably.
2. It takes a long time to heal
Healing after being emotionally broken by a narcissist seems like mission impossible. You give yourself time to heal, but you know it will take a long time. You simply can’t avoid the aftermath of dating a narcissist.
And the pain only intensifies as time goes by, so instead of burying it, you accept it and learn how to live with it.
3. You question your worth
After being emotionally abused by a narcissist, your self-worth is at an all-time low. You’re lost as he broke every piece of you and left you feeling empty inside.
Dating a narcissist really feels like going through hell. They manipulate and control you in any way they can. And once they’re done with you, you’re unable to recognize yourself in the mirror.
4. You feel invisible
When dating a narcissist, he’ll make sure that you know they’re the most important person in the world. He’ll manipulate you into believing that you’re worthless and a nobody.
And even after being with one, you still feel invisible because he convinced you that no one cares about you except him.
5. You hardly smile
You don’t smile as often as you did before he came on the scene. Not because you don’t want to, but because you have to.
The people around you are worried about how you’re dealing with the post-breakup stress, so you smile to ease their worries a bit.
But under that brave mask, you know that you haven’t smiled sincerely in a long time.
6. You can’t completely recover on your own
Face it, you can’t heal on your own. But the good news is those who really care about you will stick around through your healing process.
They won’t let you deal with your emotions on your own. They know what you’ve been through, so they’ll be your endless support and help you to heal and move on.
It’s easier if you just accept their help, so don’t fight against it.
7. You fail to see the good in people
A narcissistic man will manipulate and control you to get what he wants from you. Because you’ve fallen into his trap, you no longer believe that people can be good.
You believe that everybody around you wants to hurt you as he did. Everywhere you go, you see an image of him and his words stick inside your head.
8. You hide your feelings
He made you feel worthless and used your love for him against you. Because of that, you’re scared to show your feelings to anyone.
Your heart wouldn’t be able to handle that devastating pain again. That’s why you’ve decided to rather hide your feelings from everyone now.
9. You apologize all the time
Dating a narcissist is different than dating an ordinary guy. He blames you and tells you that it is your fault for everything bad that happens in your relationship.
And your narcissist made you look like you were always the bad guy.
That’s why you apologize all the time because you want to avoid emotional suffering. You’re sorry for the smallest things because you’re scared that the other person might leave you for it.
You’re still so insecure and vulnerable.
10. You seek others’ approval
Your entire relationship with a narcissist was based on fear and manipulation. Only bad things happened to you and it’s difficult to forget about all of that within just a day or two.
So that’s why you seek approval from others. You need them to encourage you to keep going and to finally let those wounds heal, so that you’re able to see yourself as valuable again.
11. You need someone to protect you
Even though you were a strong woman once, now you need someone to be there for you. A person who’ll reassure you that you’re going to be fine.
You need someone to help you get back on your feet again, until you’re strong enough to give love another chance.
