NARCISSISTIC ABUSE RECOVERY | Narcissist, Co-Parenting, Grey Rock Method, Healthy Boundaries, Healing, Toxic Relationships

Ep 36 | Are You a People Pleaser? Stop Walking on Eggshells NOW!

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This week we talk about How to Help Heal Anxiety and Fear After Narcissistic Abuse
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I am Christy Jade, adoring wife, adoptive mama and narcissistic abuse survivor. I now help other women who have gone through abuse (or are going through it) find confidence, power and peace.
DOMESTIC ABUSE HOTLINE : 800-799-7233
Speaker 1: (00:00)Hello. Hello. Today's episode's gonna be a little more casual, a little unplanned, a little cross your fingers. Let's hope something good comes out of this. Just kidding. Stay tuned. We're gonna dive into walking on eggshells. Speaker 1: (00:16)Hey Queens, welcome to, but Still she thrives. Do you wanna stop getting caught up in that wicked web of a creepy crawling narcissist and you find yourself up late at night replaying the abuse you put up with and wondering how you can heal Now? Do you wake up hoping for healthy relationships and peace only to feel totally exhausted and mind effed? Girl, I see you. I'm Christy. I too had to disconnect from toxic people in my life and I wished I could undo the damage. I felt ashamed, lonely, and kind of lost. But I'm a stubborn Italian and I refused to give up. I found ways to recalibrate my mind and body more quickly than I thought and can now share them with you. In this podcast, you will find coping tools, healing methods, and confidence boosters so you can trust yourself and find peace and freedom. So, shields up ladies, let's go protect our peace. Speaker 1: (01:14)So this is something I definitely went through with the narcissist in my life and every client I've had, every person I've had reach out. This tends to be something we all have in common, that with the narcissist, you are basically trained to have to walk on eggshells. Why? I don't know. Because the, the more you may go against them or not agree with them or just do what you want to do, the worse the consequences are, whether that's emotional, physical, whatever type of abuse. And this honestly could go for any type of a abuse, not just narcissistic abuse, but especially with narcissists. Man, it is their way or the highway. And we learn that we have to sacrifice our own wants, our own needs in order to placate them. I grew up pretty scared of somebody in my life. I grew up, I'll be honest, terrified because I was scared if I said the wrong thing made the wrong move, that person would explode. Speaker 1: (02:25)And it was a very scary experience. Every day I had to walk around on eggshells, right? That's a saying, walking on eggshells. And this was all, I honestly knew. I didn't realize the severity of how it would impact my entire life moving forward, even after I wasn't in this narcissist life anymore. So today we're gonna talk about how to change your mindset because it's not just kind of like, oh, here's a tip to not have to walk on eggshells, right? Like it's a whole mindset shift. So I thought, let's dig into it. I don't, like I said, I don't really have bullet points here, but I'm just gonna talk about my experience, what helped me and it, I'm so passionate about this. I may do another episode on it, but I just wanted to just have, have like a heart to heart with you guys about this because this is, something comes up, like I said, my clients are like, oh, I have to walk on eggshells. Speaker 1: (03:21)And then it bleeds into our lives. So when we are even out of the relationship, whether it's someone in your childhood, whether it's a romantic situation, you have really been conditioned to sacrifice your wants and needs. And we have these fears built in now of upsetting the narcissist. Yes. But it bleeds into our life of we now are often afraid of conflict. In my experience, I will say this, I'm a bold, fierce lady, okay? I've always had a stronger personality. So for me, this showed up just with a certain type of personality. I had no trouble with certain people saying, Hey, this is how I feel. But it was only people I felt safe with. The thing is, when you have grown up and are around narcissists, there can be a likelihood that you will attract and be comfortable with selfish people or people who are their way or the highway, because you are used to that personality, right? Speaker 1: (04:26)So we, and we're empathetic, right? A lot of narcissists will pick the empathetic, sensitive, I know how to pull your heartstrings type people so we can attract those people in our lives, right? It's not our fault. We're freaking awesome, but it, it can be a thing. So shining a light on the knowledge that you are afraid of having conflict, maybe it's only with certain type of people or certain personalities. A looking at that and saying, I know why I'm like that and I want to change that is like a first step, wanting to change something, like realizing it. I didn't realize it until I was out of the situation and was like, wow, I thought I was so fierce and bold, but let me look at my relationships with this person, this person, this person. There was some people in my life that I was really afraid and got that visceral reaction of nervousness to bring anything up to them. Speaker 1: (05:24)Whether it was just a dim difference in opinion, or if they said, we're going here at 10 o'clock, and I was like, man, I, I really wanna go at 12 cuz X, Y, z. I'd be afraid to say that because I knew I would get quote punished, right? Narcissist or selfish. People can often controlling people, I'll say, can often punish us for not doing exactly what they want, when they want, right? So that happened with a friend of mine where we were supposed to go somewhere. Let's say it was 11. She called the morning of and said, Hey, can we go an hour earlier? And I said, oh, we won't be ready by then. I, I think we had to drive, we weren't living in town something. There was something there where I was like, there, there's no way we could get there. And she said, oh, well then I'll just take my other friend. Speaker 1: (06:11)And those, those are signs of people that honestly they're not for me. We can all choose our own friends, but that is a personality I don't want. It was almost like, well if it's not convenient for me anymore, she last minute changed the time. And then because I couldn't do that kind of quote, punished me, I look at it, at it as it ended up being a punishment here, I had told my daughter we were going on this trip with them and then she canceled, right? Same thing happened with a friend we were supposed to go on a trip with. I told my daughter it was to Disney and then she said Nevermind. She was gonna invite her neighbors that were closer in age because it wouldn't be fun to have my daughter who is a little younger, two years and five years I think younger than her kids to do that. Speaker 1: (07:01)Like it wouldn't be as fun or convenient basically. And that I was, I was really upset by that. And this is, these are just examples of things for me that I'm just not here for anymore. This, these are people that are looking out for themselves. I'm not saying this particular person was a narcissist. I'm just saying when we are used to narcissistic people, we are used to selfish people. We're used to people that wanna do what's good for them and don't really compromise all of that sort of thing, right? So here comes the mindset shift. This is like these people, these types of people. When you get that reaction, when you feel like you are afraid to bring something up and it's strong, it might be the person that you're dealing with, right? It might be this isn't a great person to be in your life if you feel like they're gonna have a big reaction or punish you for having a different mindset or a different idea or not being able to do exactly what they want. Speaker 1: (08:01)On the other hand, if you're straight out of an narcissistic situation, you may have fears all together about upsetting anybody because you're just so used to that, right? So you do have to kind of discern the difference. But this is where you will have to push yourself a little. This is where the work comes in, right? We talk about the work of healing. This is an example when you feel that nervousness, especially if it's not the strong one you might get with certain personalities, but let's say it's with someone you like and know and trust, but you're like, I don't wanna cause a problem, right? This is where you do have to push yourself. And there are ways to say things nicely out of love where you can have these conversations like, you know, setting boundaries, bringing things up that you know, maybe someone has done something and you wanna bring it up. Speaker 1: (08:53)You can bring it up in a gentle way. Here is where the mindset shift is, okay? You have to know the people that are on your team, the people that want the best for you, they are going to have a healthy conversation with you. And that's what I don't think I realized because I had grown up with some unhealthy people in my life where conversations weren't healthy. So I didn't really know that existed till later in life, right? Like my husband is a prime example of somebody who can have a very healthy conversation. Will people get defensive? We're human. Yes. But there's a difference between getting like a little defensive right away if you bring something up cuz no one wants to hear like, oh this thing bothered me. Of course it doesn't feel good, but it's like, oh okay. They might, you know, seem a little taken aback, but it's what they do with that and how they handle it. Speaker 1: (09:47)And I'm telling you, there are great amazing people in the world that can have healthy conversations. I think when we've gone through abuse, when we had certain people around us in our lives, it's kind of like, that's all we know. And for me, that's what I believed was out there. And there was a whole idea of, oh well I've known this person for so long, so, and that's just them like excusing it. I will be honest, when I cut the narcissist out of my life, it was a total shift for me because I realized how much better I felt in my body. I wasn't scared anymore. I wasn't walking on eggshells. I had peace that I had never felt in my entire life. And I was like, I want more of this feeling. And I started to see there were a few other people in my life that were causing me that same feeling of feeling scared, of feeling like I have to walk on eggshells. Speaker 1: (10:46)And I was like, homey, don't wanna play that anymore. So homey didn't play that anymore. Was that a hard thing to do? Yes. I I, I don't recommend doing it all in the same day or anything, but um, having conversations about this, bringing this up, it will highlight who is a healthy individual and who is not. And if someone has a really bad reaction, it just gets worse and worse. That's not a fit for me, queen. It's not a fit for you either. It shouldn't be cuz you are here on my podcast because you want peace and you want freedom when you have to tiptoe or walk on eggshells around friends, family, romantic partner because you are afraid of their reactions that shows you do not have the right people in your life. And if it's a thing where you're just nervous about making anyone upset, that, like I said, you have to push yourself to have these conversations and do it anyway to see the response and then you evaluate from there. Speaker 1: (11:50)And you know, there are people out there. I'm telling you on the other end of this, I have a, a whole new set of friends and uh, I still have a lot of old friends. It wasn't like I had all horrible friends or anything. Um, but I do, I have new friends that I met later in my life in the last five, six years even, um, that are so uplifting that don't talk, people that don't gossip that I am not afraid to have a conversation with. We've had tough conversations. Sometimes we might say, oh, they might bring something up to me. I might bring something up to them. It's not often cuz we're all awesome queens and I'm just kidding. But if something comes up, it's like I'm not afraid and they're not afraid. We just talk to each other about it and move on. Speaker 1: (12:38)You know, it seems like what it should be. But I didn't really know that existed until later in life, especially with like close friends, right? I kind of thought, oh, you're close, you're gonna have problems. There's gonna be drama. I have had, I would what? I would not categorize any of my things with friends as drama. I don't have drama in my life like that anymore. And I used to, I used to have friend drama until I, I cut 'em all out. Um, because, and it, it sounds cold and I get that because now I'm on the other end of it. I will tell you, it was devastating to me even to have to cut people outta my life that I had been friends with for, oh gosh, half my life in some cases. But it just wasn't working anymore. It was devastating. You know, I'm human. Speaker 1: (13:27)I did shed a tear or two over some relationships. It's still a loss, but no, it's scarier than like getting a bad response from somebody or like being so afraid in those moments. Now it's scarier to me to not have my peace. And it's like once you have this sort of, this level of peace in your life, I'm terrified to not have it. You know? It's like, so I get to control that now. And you get to too, I get to decide who is allowed in my space. I get to decide who I spend my time with, you know? And it, it's become a lot more clear to me and I listen to my body, you know, all of this yoga, meditation, this really helps you get more in tuned with your body. And if you listen to your body, it's gonna tell you if somebody is good for you in your life or not. Speaker 1: (14:20)You know, e I can think even when I was dating a not so great guy back in the day, in my twenties, my body told me all the time, but I just ignored it. I'm like, but I love him, right? The good times are so good. But overall I was, I, I wasn't comfortable. I didn't feel good overall. I felt like I was walking on eggshells at time trying to get more like approval or something. It was just like not healthy at all. So you have to listen to your body and if you're walking on eggshells with everybody, you know, you should get therapy. You could or you could work with me. We can work on that stuff. That's something that is something you can fix, right? I have worked with clients working through that, just that they have low self-esteem or they feel like they have to prove their worth or they're scared because of their past situations. Speaker 1: (15:17)We can work through that. But again, if you're brave enough, you can start those conversations. You can have gentle conversations where you may say, you know, I'm changing. And I like, for example, I had a friend and I felt like she wasn't being so nice raising her voice at me, stuff like that. And I had changed and I don't accept people yelling at me anymore, right? Like I did my whole life until a few years ago. So I said, I really, I just, I don't wanna be talked down to or yelled at. And she had said, well, I can't help it. And that was kind of the beginning of the end there. A little more happened. But it was this light bulb in my head of like, that sucks. And maybe she can't, but that doesn't mean I have to take it. It's something I have decided I don't want in my life. Speaker 1: (16:08)I can't brush off being yelled at. I went through my life being yelled at and I just, I want peace, I want calm, I want, I mean peace. That's like the best word to describe it. You get to decide that and you have to know you're worth it and that it's out there. So there's two factors. It's building up your self-confidence and your self-worth of like, I know I deserve better. I know I deserve friends that make me feel good and don't make me feel scared and like I have to walk on eggshells or I know I deserve a partner that treats me well and can have healthy conversations. And then there's the aspect of, you know, pushing yourself. And yes, you may have to have hard conversations and you may distance relationships or you may disconnect completely from people. But again, for me on the other side, I can tell you it is so much scarier to stay in those relationships and have to walk on eggshells then to imagine my life now without the peace I have. Speaker 1: (17:05)Ugh, peace is, peace is underrated, man. No, it's just when you have peace, your whole, your whole body changes, your, your whole life changes. When you get to having this level of peace, it's, it's like blissful. Is there that happens? Yes. My life is not perfect. I have problems like anybody else. Things come up, external things that I can't control happen. But you have such a different perspective and my stress level is so much less than when I lived in that constant fear on top of everything else that goes on in the world, right? Like there's already enough out there guys. We don't need to add a layer of always feeling like we're afraid to do the wrong thing or say the wrong thing or upset somebody. Here's another news flash. We can't please everybody. We can't make everybody happy. We can't save everybody and we're not going to be able to make everyone happy all the time. Speaker 1: (18:00)And we may upset people, we may hurt people like it's human. And if we do be accountable, apologize, have a healthy conversation, do better the next time we're growing. So you can't be perfect and living in fear is the worst way to live. It's just the worst way. So that's, that's kind of, I guess my ramble today. It was pretty rambly. But welcome to me. And I want you guys though to really understand that mindset of like, I deserve better and I know more is out there. And, and if you're not there yet, try to believe that. Put that into your affirmations every day. I know there are healthy people that would love to be in my life. I'm gonna surround myself with healthy, uplifting people, those type of affirmations every single day. And watch this, this works. I did it . So I don't know, I just really felt it on my heart to share this message today. Speaker 1: (18:52)I hope it helps you. I hope it gives you a little bit of faith. Sometimes it helps to see someone on the other side. I can vouch there are amazing people and it's only because I dropped out the people that were stifling me and opened my world up and like opening up and making space for people that were uplifting and are healthier for me. And I cannot tell you the joy and the peace it has brought me. And I want that for all of you guys. So anyway, we will see you in the next episode and let's end with some affirmations. Maybe we'll do a little bit of, uh, I am deserving of healthy relationships. Now you say it. And I am full of joy and peace. Speaker 1: (19:44)And of course we'll end with I am a queen, a queen of peace, right? All right, I will see you in the next episode. And don't forget, today is the last day to sign up. Actually, I'll extend it to Friday tomorrow, just in case you hear this a little later. You're on the other side of the world or something. But I will extend it through Friday. But it is the last time I will be offering my special pricing on a one-on-one coaching session and my blueprint for the journey to piece program. It is only $97 down from 200. It will not go this low again. So I wanna throw that out there if you're looking to work with me in some capacity, definitely you wanna sign up for this. I will put the link in my show notes, a k, a podcast description. So go check it out. Join, I'd love to help you and work with you. Have a beautiful day.

Ep 35 | Want to Feel Happy Again? How to Heal Depression After Narcissistic Abuse

Top 3% in podcasts globally
This week we talk about How to Help Heal Anxiety and Fear After Narcissistic Abuse
Let me help you with 1:1 coaching special pricing for the month of May with VIP PRICING!
One spot left!
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/journey-to-peace-coaching-blueprint/
GET ON MY WAITLIST FOR MY UPCOMING COURSE:
https://queensofpeacewaitlist.lpages.co/early-bird-waitlist/
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Join my free facebook group here:
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Have trouble setting boundaries in your life?
Grab my E-Course here:
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And if you just wanna peek around and find out more about me and my work..check out my website! It's FUN AND SPARKLY ;) 
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Want to drop me a line or have a question? Email me anytime!
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Let's connect on social media!
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After abuse we need SIMPLE. I created a planner for busy women just like you to navigate your days easier: https://christyjade.podia.com/shethrivesplanner 
I am Christy Jade, adoring wife, adoptive mama and narcissistic abuse survivor. I now help other women who have gone through abuse (or are going through it) find confidence, power and peace.
DOMESTIC ABUSE HOTLINE : 800-799-7233
SUICIDE HOTLINE: just dial 988
Speaker 1: (00:00)Welcome back to the Effects of Narcissistic Abuse series here on, but still she thrives. And today we are gonna focus on helping heal depression. Depression is a very real thing. I've gone through it myself. It can be a dark place. Some symptoms of depression are low energy, feeling very sad and hopeless. Thoughts of self-harm or suicide, irritability, changes in eating behavior, sleeping changes, loss of interest in hobbies and activities. Just not feeling up to doing the things we like to do and difficulty concentrating or even just making simple decisions. I do wanna start this episode out saying if you have depression and it is out of control, having any self harm or suicidal thoughts, you feel like you just can't get out of it, I would like you to seek help. If you are having suicidal thoughts, please call the suicide hotline. I will put the phone number in my show notes. Speaker 1: (00:56)If you have depression and it's not exactly to that level, but you really want help, I highly advise seeking therapy. And don't forget that there is online therapy. If you don't find someone that's a good fit locally, there is always online options. So let's dive into some of the ways you can help to accelerate your healing with depression after narcissistic abuse. As we know, recovering from narcissistic abuse is a very complex and challenging journey. I mean, that's a given. That's why I'm here. That's why I have this podcast, right? But it can lead to really deep emotional wounds, including depression. So the effects of this type of abuse can have a huge impact on your mental health and your physical health, right? So it's very important to remember that healing and reclaiming that inner happiness, which is possible, I promise. It is possible. It's having that faith, right? Speaker 1: (01:47)So today we're gonna explore strategies to help you support your recovery through this journey. Number one, first, as I mentioned, please seek professional help if you have depression. This can be a hard hole to climb out of, and it's very difficult to do alone. It's a serious mental health condition. And it often does require that professional support. So, like I said, reach out to a qualified therapist, find someone locally, find someone online. There are so many options with the internet now, so reach out and get help. It is not weak. And especially if this has been ongoing, it's really important to have support. There can be a stigma against therapy, or maybe you had a bad experience with a therapist. I urge you to try again. It is kind of like dating. It's not always gonna be the first therapist that you go into their office. Speaker 1: (02:36)It's a perfect match, right? I have gone through a couple where I was just like, what in tarnation? Did I just say Tarnation? Does anyone say Tarnation? I don't think that's a thing we should say no. But, uh, one experience I had, I literally was like, how is this person a therapist? Right? So you may have to kind of date around, but it is worth the effort to find somebody who can fully support you and help you on this journey. Because like I said, you really do need support. Number two, practice self-compassion. This one is hard sometimes, especially if you're like, you know, knee deep in depression. You don't have tons of compassion. But really try to be gentle with yourself. You know, the self-compassion is essential to counteracting the negative beliefs that have entered your brain and caused this cycle, right? Um, you've been told a lot of things for a long time. Speaker 1: (03:28)Probably if you are under the thumb or were under the thumb of a narcissist. So undoing that damage is not going to be overnight, but it is possible. And during the journey, you need to treat yourself with kindness, understanding, and forgiveness. Often we will blame ourselves first because narcissists blame us. So we take on that role. Second, even if we get out of it and we look back going, what did I do here? What did I do to my children? And it's like we put this guilt trip on ourselves. We do not need that extra guilt queen. Okay? You don't need that. Forgive yourself. It's okay. You did your best, right? You did the best with what you had. We all don't know the answers. We, we aren't born with a handbook. So I want you to give yourself grace, and I want you stop feeling guilty. Speaker 1: (04:10)Forgive yourself so you can make the room for that self-compassion. Now, what does that look like? Positive self-talk, right? I do this with my clients. It may sound simple, but I am telling you it works when you repeat affirmations over and over when you do the tapping, when you do any of these mindfulness activities to help retrain your brain to think positive thoughts that replace those negative thoughts, it will benefit you. Even if even in a few minutes, it'll benefit you. And over time, if you're repeating that every day, every night, whatever it is, it's going to have really long-term lasting effects and completely change your mindset and your confidence. So do all the self-talk and all the self-care too. What does that look like? I am big on yoga, especially yin yoga for trauma, re related things, getting outside in nature, exercising, just moving it all dancing. Speaker 1: (05:07)Nine is hip hop high up on my list. , anything you can do to get out of that head and in your body. I will tell you this, when I was going through some narcissistic abuse years ago, I was so d like I'm talking about my depressed time. I, I had a really depressed era. I will call it unrecognizable to myself or to other people. I am normally a, you know, bright, bubbly, yay, I'm the clown of the show. Do, do, do do. I was not. I was depressed. I was cut off from the world. I was laying in bed. I had gone through something else in my life and just all of it on top was just too much and I just felt like a big gray cloud. One of the things that helped me, actually, it's one of the main things, I will be honest, because I said I have to pull myself out of this. I really honestly didn't wanna go on medication. And that may have been stupid. Speaker 2: (05:56)I don't know. That was me. It was years ago. I just didn't want to. So I was like, well, if I'm not gonna go on medication, then I need to drag myself out of this. So I started just exploring what I could to get myself out of my head, right? I mean, listening to sad songs was not helping. So what did I do? I actually took my radio out of my room cuz I would sit there and just sit, listen to sad songs. Like that's what that is. Not helpful. Little tip on the side there. But what I did do was, first of all, I signed up for a class to just get me out of bed. It was a daily class at the community college just to get me outta bed. This is before I had a family or anything. Cause I was in my, I guess 19, 18, 19 years old. Speaker 2: (06:39)And also I'm committed to myself. You are going to get your butt out of bed every morning and run. I was not a runner, I just wasn't. I didn't even like running, but I knew I had to move my body and I had to get out of my head. It is huge in healing. So getting out in nature, moving your body, signing up for something fun you can look forward to, these are all some really great ways to care for yourself. Self-care. Yay. Number three is an important one. Building a supportive network. Especially when you have gone through abuse and you have been isolated from people you loved. This can happen very frequently, especially when you're in romantic situations with with a narcissist. Uh, that is one of their tactics to control you. They will isolate you, keep you from your peeps, and it's time to reconnect to the people you love. Speaker 2: (07:30)If they treat you well. If not building a new community, building a new supportive network. This can look like just joining a local. Let's say you're a mom. I know I have a lot of moms here joining a local mom's group. Going out, making the effort. Even if you don't feel like it, get those shoes on. Put some red lipstick on and go out and meet people and meet uplifting people. Joining meetup.com is actually a great place. I've gone, I actually made some great friends on meetup.com. I love Meetup because they have specific groups for specific interests. So let's say you're an avid book reader, they have book groups, book clubs, whatever. What else? Uh, if you're into yoga, they may have yoga or meditation, mindfulness type things. If you love cooking, they have cooking groups. If you love to travel, they have travel groups. Speaker 2: (08:19)So you can categorize it, you can filter it by location and interest and, you've got a built-in support. It's amazing. So my personal opinion when you're healing from abuse and isolation is to do those in-person things. Yes, there's online groups. I advise you can join those as well. But I will be honest, to really heal and get out of your head and out of your house, , cuz you wanna get out in the world and be living. I highly recommend in-person groups. And again, that could look, that could even be at the gym striking up conversation. You might have to put your neck out, which is a little hard after you've been a victim of narcissistic abuse. But that's what I'm here for. This is what I help my clients with, right? Like this is the stuff we work on. So if you're interested in working with me, I actually have extended my special pricing for my journey to piece call and blueprint. Speaker 2: (09:11)So it's normally 200, it is 97, I'm extending that this week. So because you're a podcast listener, you are getting special pricing. So you can look at that link. I will put it in my show notes in the podcast description. But basically this is stuff we work on When you work one-on-one with me doing all of this stuff, figuring it out, any questions you have, any guidance you need, any support. That is what I'm here for. Number four, so important is setting boundaries. We've talked about this a lot. It's one of my favorite things to talk about. I'm a boundary queen. But establishing and enforcing these healthy boundaries, right? Not just saying this is my boundary, but actually living up to it and making sure it happens and you stick to it is crucial in protecting your mental health during this time. Narcissistic abusers often disregard boundaries, which can perpetuate the feelings of helplessness that you have. Speaker 2: (10:05)And they can exacerbate your depression, which we don't want that queen. We don't have time for depression, right? We have a big badass life to live. Again, this is something I help with my clients because a lot of narcissistic abuse victims are kind of people pleasers or maybe have fears around the narcissist. So we work on ways how to really stay strong in your boundaries. So practice saying no when necessary and surround yourself with people who respect and support your boundaries, right? That's helpful. Number five, engage in self-reflection and healing activities. So we gotta do a little reflection on this journey just a little bit, right? So reflect on your experiences. Explore how has this impacted me? What is this abusive relationship done? Sometimes it's not fun to look at this, but it's very important. In order to heal, you've gotta shine a light on what it is, okay? Speaker 2: (10:56)So engaging in those activities helps your personal growth. You can do, and we've talked about this on many episodes, but we'll repeat it, journaling, art therapy. Again, all those good mindful activities like affirmations, yoga, meditation, and these activities will help you process your emotions while you're doing them. Even doing yin yoga where you are just sitting in poses for three to five minutes, that is helping you process the things that you have gone through. It is amazing to me. Ah, I just love this work. Number six, celebrating those small victories. I think we talked about this a little bit with anxiety too, but with depression, even the simplest task can feel so challenging. And I've noticed that even with myself back in the day. And then with current clients I have where you may be out of your situation, but you have a lack of energy, a lack of motivation that comes with the healing process, right? So even those simple Speaker 3: (11:52)Tasks can feel like, oh, so heavy. So celebrate each small victory along this journey. I want you to just clap for yourself. You can get an accountability partner where you can ask one of your friends every day in the morning or in the evening, just text each other three things you're grateful for and one win you had that week. And as you grow, you will see, you'll wanna do even more. You'll think of even more things. It's kind of just practicing this new muscle in your brain that's like, Hey, look, I'm winning at life. We love winning and sharing. Winning is great and your friend will love it too. So find a friend that is uplifting and loving and say, let's do this every day. I mean, who does not wanna start the day or end their day with happiness and victories and gratitude? I mean, that being said, if we have some setbacks, that's okay. Speaker 3: (12:45)Be gentle with yourself. Remember, it takes time. This healing process takes time. Every effort counts. So it's not perfection, it's progress and it's the effort you put in and that you're trying. That's so important. Do you know what a big deal it is that you're even doing this? This is amazing that you are here on my podcast. You are doing the work, you are self-aware and you are going to heal, and we're gonna make it fun. So remember that recovering from depression after narcissistic abuse especially, it is a gradual and individualized process. So seek the help, find a support group, be compassionate with yourself. Set those boundaries. You've gotta do a little self-reflection. I'm sorry, it's part of the process. Prioritize that self-care and celebrate the victories and have gratitude every day and be kind to yourself during it, during this whole process. Okay, what? What do we wanna end with? Let's think of some good old Christy, Jade affirmations. All right, hands on your heart, but if you're driving, keep your hands on your wheel. All right, take a nice breath. Hands on heart. I am healing. I am so proud of how far I've come. I am strong. I am a queen. It's true. I'll end with that. Like I said, it is the last week, but I did wanna extend my special pricing to you guys before my daughter is out of school, and I will less time to do one-on-one session. So grab it if you want it. It's in the show notes, podcast description, whatever you wanna call it. And I hope you all have a beautiful couple of days until we meet again in our next episode. Smooches and Ds.

Ep 34 | Am I the Toxic One? The Surprising Answer

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Join my free facebook group here:
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Grab my E-Course here:
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And if you just wanna peek around and find out more about me and my work..check out my website! It's FUN AND SPARKLY ;) 
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Want to drop me a line or have a question? Email me anytime!
fiercemamac@gmail.com  
Let's connect on social media!
https://www.instagram.com/fiercechristyjade/
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After abuse we need SIMPLE. I created a planner for busy women just like you to navigate your days easier: https://christyjade.podia.com/shethrivesplanner 
I am Christy Jade, adoring wife, adoptive mama and narcissistic abuse survivor. I now help other women who have gone through abuse (or are going through it) find confidence, power and peace.
DOMESTIC ABUSE HOTLINE : 800-799-7233
 
TRANSCRIPT
FINAL But Still She Thrives Ep 34 Am I the Toxic One - The Answer You May Not Expect
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Speaker 1
 
00:00
Today is a juicy topic. Am I the toxic one? I have been asked that. I see it all over narcissistic Facebook pages. People wanna know, am I the toxic one? And I've got some answers for you.
 
Speaker 1
 
00:16
Hey Queens, welcome to, but still she thrives. Do you wanna stop getting caught up in that wicked web of a creepy crawling narcissist? Do you find yourself up late at night replaying the abuse you put up with and wondering how you can heal now? Do you wake up hoping for healthy relationships and peace only to feel totally exhausted? And mindf? Girl, I see you. I'm Christy. I too had to disconnect from toxic people in my life and I wished I could undo the damage. I felt ashamed, lonely, and kind of lost. But I'm a stubborn Italian and I refused to give up. I found ways to recalibrate my mind and body more quickly than I thought and can now share them with you. In this podcast, you will find coping tools, healing methods, and confidence boosters so you can trust yourself and find peace and freedom. So shields up ladies, let's go protect our peace.
 
Speaker 1
 
01:14
I am so excited to do this episode because A, we often will be made out to be the crazy one, the toxic one, right? The narcissist in our life will put blame on us. We know that. But once we get out and we're on the other side, especially, we may say, Hey, maybe I wasn't all these things. So I'm gonna dig in. There's two answers to this. There's a no, none of this is your fault and you are not the narcissist. Like if you are even asking, am I the narcissist, you're probably not because narcissists are not self-aware. They don't even think they could be a narcissist. So the odds of that are very low. Do you have any toxic traits by nature or that have been formed because of your relationship? Maybe. So let's dig in. So like I said, the fact you're here, you're trying to learn, you're trying to grow, is a very not narcissistic trait, right?
 
Speaker 1
 
02:11
It's also a not so toxic person trait. Does that mean you are free of any toxic tendencies that may be due to toxic relationships in your childhood, in your romantic hood, in your friendships, whatever it is that you learned or used as a response to someone else's toxic trait? Maybe. So we're gonna ask some questions. You can ask these questions to yourself and be honest, truly dig in. If you wanna figure out am I the toxic one? Do I have any toxic traits, right? The first one, are you only concerned with yourself? So this is a big narcissistic trait and it can be a toxic person trait. In general. Are you concerned with yourself? Are you self-absorbed? Everything's all about you. Everything always comes back to talking about you or your feelings, whatever, whatever odds are. If you are with a narcissist, you are probably sort of the opposite, A people pleaser.
 
Speaker 1
 
03:07
But once you are out of this situation or nearing getting out, you may start to build up that confidence and start to say, Hey, what about me? And that's great. I love that you're a queen. Do more of that. And at some point though, the the pendulum may swing the other way where you get like, wow, this is my time and it is your time. You get that self-care, but don't lose your, the sweet part of you, right? Like don't lose that caring for other people. Don't throw other people under the bus. All of that. You wanna still have that balance. But yes, it's time for that self-care and that does not mean selfish. There is a difference. Self-care is not selfish. So asking yourself, am I selfish in general, digging into that, if you are all about you and selfish, you can get help.
 
Speaker 1
 
03:54
There are ways to get out of that. You can seek therapy, read self-help books on how to start having more empathy or sympathy and caring more about others. The next question, do you always think you are right? Think about this. In any conflict that comes up with your romantic partner, with friends, with family members, do you ever say, Hey, you know, that might be my fault, or Hey, I'm sorry, I could totally see even though maybe I didn't tend it that way. I see how that could hurt you and I'm really, really sorry. Or hey, yeah, I jacked up, right? Think about, are you always right in an argument in conflict? If so, you have to dive into that. That is a very narcissistic trait. Doesn't mean you're a narcissist if you have trouble saying, sorry, not always. Again, that can be part of something else.
 
Speaker 1
 
04:46
Other disorders or can be related to trauma, whatever it is, it is somewhat of a toxic trait, right? Because you want to be able to say, Hey, I recognize I'm not perfect and that's okay and I'm gonna be accountable and I'm gonna say I'm sorry and I don't wanna hurt the people in my life. I don't have to always be right. This is a good one. Do you manipulate people to get what you want? Is that a pattern in your life? That is a, a very, very clear sign of narcissism. That is one of the ones for me, is like a huge red flag When I meet people, if there is any manipulation or coercion, not minding other people's feelings, but all about, again, that goes back to narcissist a lot are all about themselves and having control, right? So they will control others, they will do whatever they need to manipulate, gaslight, lie, whatever they need to do to get what they want.
 
Speaker 1
 
05:44
So ask yourself, do I have a pattern of manipulating people or coercing people or trying to get people to do what I want all the time? If so, that is definitely toxic unless you're in, in the courtroom, cuz that's part of your job, . But if that bleeds out into your personal life, even if you are a lawyer, that is something you should definitely work on and seek help for. Are you always angry? Step back and think, am I always angry and taking it out on other people, right? We're gonna have emotions, we're gonna have anger, we're gonna have sadness, we're gonna have joy, we're gonna have all these emotions. But what is it that you do with it counts, right? And if you are angry all the time, that doesn't necessarily mean you're a narcissist or a toxic person. It could be due to you having resentment because you were the victim of abuse.
 
Speaker 1
 
06:32
But what's important is to go get the help to release that negative energy. Okay? So getting therapy for something like that is really important. But think about, yes, that's a toxic trait, especially if you are taking it out on other people. And a lot of narcissists, they do have a lot of anger inside. They have a lot of depression. There's a lot of really dark feelings inside of a narcissist buried. Some are buried very deeply, but they come out in the form of treat mistreating other people, right? So are you mistreating other people due to your own emotions? If so, that can be a sign of narcissism, it can be a sign of many other things. And again, any of these traits, if they're coming up and they're, you're saying yes to these, it's time to get that help. That can be, you know, you can self-learn with books and podcasts, but you can also get accelerated help.
 
Speaker 1
 
07:22
And what I love in my life is therapy or coaching this. This one, I want you to think deep here because codependency is a thing. This may hit more people than any of the others. If you are a victim of narcissistic abuse and you're like, am I the toxic one? Something that happens to us as victims is codependency. And sometimes that can radiate where we actually then become codependent in other relationships. And even if we're disconnected from another situation, we seek out codependent relationships in friendships, in romantic ships. So you have to ask yourself, are you trying to make a new friend or a new boyfriend or girlfriend, whatever, someone in your life, are you trying to set it up so you are kind of codependent on each other? Are you trying to get someone all to yourself? This can come up more, I would say, more than a lot of these others, other things, even though you may not intentionally be doing it.
 
Speaker 1
 
08:28
I want you to think about this one. Are you in some way coercing? Whether it's intentional or not saying, oh no, don't go out with her. I had a friend like this and I don't think it was ill intended. And I thought at the time it was sweet, right? I was used to kind of co-dependent relationships in my life. And she would say things like, oh, you don't need to go out with such and such. You have me. Come on, we're all, we're all we need, da, da, da, right? Like Bonnie and Clyde. And it felt good to feel special. And I don't think she was doing it intentionally, but she constantly did that to a point I started to feel really weird. I'm like, I'm an extrovert with a lot of friends and I do want other friends and I don't wanna be isolated with just one best friend in my life.
 
Speaker 1
 
09:11
So if you notice that someone's doing that to you, it's time to be aware of that, that that is not healthy. It seems fun and it's, it's great to have a best friend, but to only have like one person in your life is a sign that of codependency, which is not healthy. And if you are on the other end and you're saying, oh wait, I kind of do do that. I didn't realize it. Well now you realize it. Yay. Don't we love self-awareness? Woohoo. So you can start to step away from that start to, once you look at something, you start healing and you start to be able to change it, right? So think about it. Think about your relationships in your life. Again, this could be family members, this could be your best friend, this could be your romantic partner. When your romantic partner, let's say, wants to go do something, do you guilt trip them?
 
Speaker 1
 
10:01
Oh, but I want you to spend time with me, da da, da. Right? Why is that? That's coming from some insecurity in you. Unless there's some big pattern and they're out like every day and don't spend any time with you. But think about that and stop doing it, queen. It's not a good look. All right? Do you humiliate your partner or others especially, I mean at all is like, don't do that, girl, don't do that. But do you do it in front of other people? That is a big sign. That is a narcissistic trait I have seen where they feel really good to put someone down. Like it builds them up somehow to put others down, especially in front of other people. It's a control. Weird tactic. I hate it. It's gross, it's yucky. I have a family member that does this and it, oh, it just cringe, cringe.
 
Speaker 1
 
10:49
Cringes me. Every time I see it, it's like, oh look, look, I'm gonna embarrass my wife, right? It's just really gross. But do you do that? Do you? And they play it off as a joke, right? There's nothing funny about being mean or disrespectful or humiliating somebody in front of other people or at all. But think about that. That is a toxic trait. And these might even just be bringing things up. If you're listening here to my podcast, usually it's because you're a victim of narcissistic abuse or some type of abuse, right? So this may be coming up as, oh my gosh, my person did that, you know, or I have a friend who does that all the time. Guess what? That not okay. And the whole, oh, I'm just joking, I'm just joking. No, I, and I'm one, I have tough skin, okay?
 
Speaker 1
 
11:34
I've got very thick skin. But when there's a pattern, and I had a friend like this too that would always make fun of me, like little jabs and, and I took it, I have very thick skin, but at one point they made fun of a physical feature of mine in front of a bunch of people. And that was the last time, we'll just say that fierce Christy here. I don't tolerate that, right? Other things, it was more like funny kind of embarrassing stories, but a story I would tell anyway, you know? And it was a frequent thing that this person would do. But when it came to like basically making fun of a physical feature that I could not change and didn't wanna change cuz God loves me as me, um, that hit way differently. And I saw then the pattern and was like, none of this is okay.
 
Speaker 1
 
12:21
I'm realizing now she gets a rise out of this. You know? So we had a conversation. She of course did not respond well. And that can happen too, right? How do people respond when you do bring something to their attention that, so you can also ask this question, which I didn't have written down here, but how do I respond when someone comes to me with a concern or hurt? How do I respond? Do I say, I'm sorry you feel that way, da da da. You try to explain and talk it through, or do you get defensive right away? So being really defensive, that does not mean you're a narcissist. First of all, a lot of people get defensive in life. It never feels good for someone to come at us with a criticism. But healthy people can stop, even if at first you get defensive can take a minute and say, okay, let me process this.
 
Speaker 1
 
13:07
Let's talk this out, right? But if you have a pattern of responding with that, like, I can't believe you're coming at me with this. Oh my God, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then not taking accountability, like we talked about earlier, that's, that is a toxic thing. So where do you stand in that? Or maybe you're on the other end where you're like, woo, thank God I'm out of that situation where that person never came or when I came to them, never came back at me with love and respect. And in general, do you treat people poorly? How do you treat weight stuff? How do you treat the mailman? How do you treat people walking by in the grocery store that accidentally bump your cart? You know, do you treat people nicely and kindly and give them grace? We all have our moments, right? We're human.
 
Speaker 1
 
13:52
But in general, do you treat people nicely? A lot of narcissists, they may on the surface seem charismatic and friendly, but if you watch them very closely, they will mistreat people. And you will see the arrogance come out mostly, most times. Now, these last two are more like common. If you are the victim of narcissistic abuse, this can be a result. So are you a Debbie Downer? And are you in that victim mindset? And this can happen, and I get it, I do understand, but you do have to work on this. And this is stuff I love to work on with my clients, taking them from feeling like a victim to feeling empowered and like, f this, I got this, nobody's gonna change my life and make me negative. Nancy over here, Debbie Downer, negative Nancy, all the names, because I get to take my control back and I want a life of peace and joy.
 
Speaker 1
 
14:42
So it's shifting that mindset and I love doing that. So this can be a result of your situations, right? Then do something about it. I'm a doer, I'm an action taker as my clients are. If you're not gonna wanna take action and you wanna wallow in what happened and feel sorry for yourself, which I get it. I mean, I feel sorry for all of us, right? But we gotta do something about it because life is too short to sit and roll around in it and not do anything and not step forward at all. You know? And there is a time period, there is a grace period where you can really release all that and let it out and let it go. And then it's time to say, okay, what do I want? Now I do, I know what I don't want. Who do I wanna be now 2.0 me.
 
Speaker 1
 
15:25
Okay? So yes, if you're a Debbie Downer, that could be a cause, like a, a result. I mean, that could be a result. So get some help, holler at me, look at my show notes, set up a call with me. And the second part of that in kind of similar is do you not fix problems? And this is, I mean, just all around, and this can be a narcissistic trait in this sense of somebody who doesn't want to fix or work on themselves. Narcissists are not self-aware. Generally there, there's such a tiny population of them that will actually say, Hey, I might be a narcissist or I might have a problem. Narcissists generally will not admit unless they're desperate in trying to get you back and have crocodile tears along with it and it's momentary. So there's that narcissistic part. But in general, I'm also saying, if you are a survivor of narcissistic abuse or any abuse, but you're not doing anything about it, that will become a toxic trait because you will get more anxiety, more depression, less motivation, all those things.
 
Speaker 1
 
16:26
And that is, again, what I do with my clients, is really taking you from that surviving to thriving like we are undoing damage that has been done. So if you sit in it and you decide, like there are people that are like, oh, well yeah, I wanna get help, but you know, I, I can't afford it because you know, I'm, I'm getting my grande coffees every day and I just can't afford coaching or therapy right now. That's you prioritizing something else besides your healing. So you say you wanna heal, but your actions aren't showing that that's a you thing and you're not fixing the problem. You can mask it, you can mask it with, you know, alcohol. You can mask it with distractions and going out. You can mask it with going on vacations. You can mask it with so many things, but you're not gonna fix the problem until you heal, take action, releasing physically the negative effects mentally doing mindset work.
 
Speaker 1
 
17:21
And it's fun with me. So I highly recommend myself. All right, this is getting long. So we gotta go, we gotta roll. But hopefully that helps you. Most likely you are not the narcissist if you are even asking that. Are you the toxic one? Most likely, no. Are there some things that may have come out of this that could be toxic traits? I would, I don't even know if I'd call 'em traits, just things that have developed maybe, but you get to undo them. That's the beautiful part, right? And you're here, so that shows something. So good job queen. You are so worthy of turning your life around. You are amazing and you are beautiful and you have more control than you think. Okay? I'll see you in the next episode. Don't forget to subscribe and join my free Facebook group. Look at the show notes. There's lots of juicy stuff there. There's even my freebie. You get a free meditation, I'm gonna be adding more freebies. So look out for those. Hopefully next week I'll have a couple more up. I wanna give you all the fun free things. So yay, always check the show notes and I'll see you later.
 

Ep 33 | How to Help Heal Anxiety and Fear After Narcissistic Abuse

Top 3% in podcasts globally
This week we talk about How to Help Heal Anxiety and Fear After Narcissistic Abuse
Let me help you with 1:1 coaching special pricing for the month of May with VIP PRICING!
One spot left!
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/journey-to-peace-coaching-blueprint/
GET ON MY WAITLIST FOR MY UPCOMING COURSE:
https://queensofpeacewaitlist.lpages.co/early-bird-waitlist/
FREEBIE TIME!My FREE 4 MINUTE empowering meditation:
https://christyjade.ck.page/insider
Join my free facebook group here:
https://facebook.com/groups/christyjade
Have trouble setting boundaries in your life?
Grab my E-Course here:
https://christyjade.podia.com/boundariescourse
And if you just wanna peek around and find out more about me and my work..check out my website! It's FUN AND SPARKLY ;) 
https://christyjade.com/
Want to drop me a line or have a question? Email me anytime!
fiercemamac@gmail.com  
Let's connect on social media!
https://www.instagram.com/fiercechristyjade/
https://www.tiktok.com/@fiercemamachristy
After abuse we need SIMPLE. I created a planner for busy women just like you to navigate your days easier: https://christyjade.podia.com/shethrivesplanner 
I am Christy Jade, adoring wife, adoptive mama and narcissistic abuse survivor. I now help other women who have gone through abuse (or are going through it) find confidence, power and peace.
DOMESTIC ABUSE HOTLINE : 800-799-7233
 
TRANSCRIPT
Speaker 1: (00:00)Hello, my beautiful queen Bees. Today we're talking more about the effects of narcissistic abuse. If you are jumping in new here, welcome. We are doing this whole series on the effects of narcissistic abuse, psychologically, mentally, emotionally, all of fun. So stick around for how to help heal anxiety and fear after narcissistic abuse. Speaker 1: (00:26)Hey, Queens, welcome to, but still she thrives. Do you wanna stop getting caught up in that wicked web of a creepy crawling narcissist? Do you find yourself up late at night replaying the abuse you put up with? I'm wondering how you can heal now. Do you wake up hoping for healthy relationships and peace only to feel totally exhausted and mind effed? Girl, I see you. I'm Christy. I too had to disconnect from toxic people in my life, and I wished I could undo the damage. I felt ashamed, lonely, and kind of lost. But I'm a stubborn Italian and I refuse to give up. I found ways to recalibrate my mind and body more quickly than I thought and can now share them with you. In this podcast, you will find coping tools, healing methods, and confidence boosters so you can trust yourself and find peace and freedom. So, shields up ladies, let's go protect our peace. Speaker 1: (01:23)All right, so we know surviving, narcissistic abuse can take a lot of courage and resilience, but the journey toward healing does not end once the relationship is over. Once you've disconnected, often survivors are left grappling with anxiety and fear that linger long after the abuse has ended. So these emotional wounds can be very overwhelming, but it's essential to remember that healing is possible, right? Having that faith has been a big part of my journey. So today we're gonna explore strategies to help you navigate and overcome some of those anxieties and fears. Empowering you to reclaim that inner strength. Cuz girl, I see it. I know it's there. Let's do this. First of all, you have to validate your feelings, right? It's the first step really, in any form of abuse, acknowledging it and saying, yes, yes, this was abuse, this was bad. It's okay that I have these effects, these psychological effects, whatever sort of effects, it's okay and it's normal in this situation that I'm in, right? Is this situation a common thing? No. We are warriors who have survived some of the craziest type of abuse out there. So it's okay to validate your feelings. These people made us feel completely crazy, like things were our fault. Like we were crazy, like we were perceiving things incorrectly, that we were just paranoid, that we were sensitive, you know, all the things they called us. Okay? So you're out of it. I want you to breathe. Put your hand to your heart and say, my feelings are valid. I'm serious. I'm gonna give you a moment. Speaker 1: (03:06)Really s just suck it all in. Like it's okay. It's okay that there may be some resistance there too. This is why I'm big on affirmations, repeating these things daily in the morning before you go to bed. My feelings are valid, is a really important affirmation for people who have gone through such abuse. Another standard, I did it myself, is seeking professional help. This stuff is hard to go through alone. I highly suggest reaching out to myself of course, because this is what I do. Very specific to this type of abuse. I have a lot of knowledge, a lot of experience, and it's fun to work with me. So yay. Or a therapist, I always will say a therapist who has experience in their own lives with narcissism is going to be very beneficial. Okay? So someone who specializes in trauma and abuse, great, but narcissistic abuse, it is different. Speaker 1: (04:05)And I do think it's important to try to seek out a professional who has the experience with narcissism. So whether it's me or a therapist, somebody there to help you understand narcissism further. Not only that, but helping, keeping you accountable every week to be doing this work because it, it can be tiring. But that's why in my programs, whether you do one-on-one or with my upcoming course, it's always going to be, this doesn't have to be so heavy and so hard. We'll have our moments. But this is really on building our, our self-esteem back and doing fun things and doing the meditation and making it lighter and happier and, and bringing peace and joy into your life in a fun way. So if you can get that from someone else or myself, that is fabulous, but have someone supporting you, you definitely need that along this journey. Speaker 1: (05:04)The third thing is practicing self-care. So engaging in self-care activities is crucial for your wellbeing. Focusing on nurturing your physical, emotional, and mental health, right? So you can do this kind of, I call it sparkle by sparkle. Focusing on one thing at a time and adding it to your routine so you don't overwhelm yourself and you don't feel like, oh, I have to do all the things to change my life. First of all, you're changing your life for the better. So, woo-hoo. Second of all, it can be fun. It's going to be fun. It's meant to be fun. My journey, I didn't realize that healing could be so liberating. Build my confidence so much and just make me like cutting out all the chaos and filling it with peace instead and uplifting people instead of people I had had in my life. It truly changed my world in such a way that that's part of why I do this, right? Speaker 1: (05:59)Like I want you guys to get to experience this. So a lot of these things, we've talked about them in multiple episodes, but exercise, meditation, journaling, spending time in nature, all of these things are truly going to help your anxiety levels, your fear, because this is all this energy that gets stuck in our physical body, right? And our mind and all, but physical exercise truly releases negative energy. I talk about yin yoga a lot, I love it. If you want to ask me more about yin yoga, you can email me at fierce mama M A M AAC gmail.com. That'll always be in my show notes on the podcast, by the way, wherever you're listening. But exercise is so important, such a great, great way to release energy meditation, being present, right? Really being in the moment. And yes, some things, some hard things may come up and you walk through and release them. Speaker 1: (06:56)Same thing with journaling. It's a great way to process and do those fun things. Find those new activities that maybe you didn't get to do or old hobbies you kind of fell out of doing or someone made you stop doing things you love because they were so controlling, right? This is your time to recreate yourself and part of that journey is this self-care. So remind yourself too that you deserve love, kindness to yourself. Very important. Give yourself grace and healing. So number four, I just touched on it quickly, but surrounding yourself with supportive people. Man, what a life changer. So for me, this was huge. This was a defining moment in my life, realizing there are people out there who are so uplifting who really support you and like trusting people again, and it can take some time, but trusting that people have your best interests and looking out for those red flags, and I have episodes on that of course, but looking out for those things can take time as well. Speaker 1: (08:02)But if you have friends already that are supportive, spend more time with them, spend more time with the people you trust and have fun with too, right? Maybe you just have some friends that are really fun to hang out with and you just wanna go get a margarita and chat and sit outside and have a good laugh. That's so important for your soul too. There are also a lot of support groups, especially with this online world. Now, there are tons of support groups. So you can look on Facebook or other social media outlets and find a community. Um, I myself am part of a couple of narcissistic abuse groups on Facebook. So whatever is your jam or your social hangout, see if you can find some people there. Even if you're watching videos like on YouTube, I find that if you're involved and you comment, you can kind of find each other. Speaker 1: (08:53)I actually made amazing friends, one of my best friends I made through YouTube about 10 years ago. We both were doing makeup videos and found each other and now we talk all the time. So you just never know what's out there in the world wa web. But surrounding yourself with people who uplift you like that and validate your experiences can counteract the negative effects of that abuse you've gone through and help alleviate that anxiety, the fear, the feeling like, oh, I'm crazy, or just not good enough. All that stuff that comes up. You start to kind of rewrite those thoughts by your own self-healing, but also hanging out with people who are saying the opposite and are like, do you know how amazing you are? I have a best friend who's like such a cheerleader and it, it might be over the top to some people, but I don't care. Speaker 1: (09:44)I feel like people have gone through the we've gone through. It's okay for us to get a little cheerleading in. It's okay to have friends around us that are really in our corner and like, girl, you're amazing. Don't forget it. We should all have that. So I hope you find that too. All right, number five, back to setting boundaries. I know we talk about this a lot because it's so dang important. I'm the queen of boundaries. I love it. So one common trait though of narcissistic abusers, which you may know by now, is a lack of respect of boundaries. So learning to set healthy boundaries is essential at this point. Essential for your wellbeing. Like if you wanna go on this piece journey and you want it to work and you wanna not go back, you wanna not get sucked into the drama, you don't wanna attract future relationships, whether it's romantic or friendships, anything that even smells like narcissism. Speaker 1: (10:38)Then you have to learn how to set these healthy boundaries, right? This can reduce the anxiety and fear because you know that you have your peace bubble and no one's gonna get in there, no one's gonna ruin that for you when you set those healthy boundaries. So it does it, it can take some time, like it took me a little bit to get there, but that's what I'm here for to help you. Yay. So recognize that you have the right to say no and remember that is a full sentence. No, you don't have to explain yourself away and prioritize your needs. So practice assertiveness in communicating your boundaries and surround yourself with the people who not only uplift you, but respect your boundaries and support them. Like they want you to have boundaries. They want you to protect yourself and they wanna help you protect yourself. Speaker 1: (11:28)Those are the people we're trying to have in our life. Got it, . All right, number six, explore therapeutic techniques. So, you know, we talked about exercise, some meditation, all of that. This is kind of focusing on that. Mindfulness, the meditation, deep breathing exercises, yoga, shout out to you in yoga or creative outlets, right? Like this weekend, me and my stepsister had so much fun. This was Memorial Day weekend for us here in the US and it's a long weekend. I actually had a four day weekend, should I, how many times can I say? Weekend, weekend, weekend. But my stepsister and my nephew came over and we had so much fun doing artwork, jamming on the guitar and singing and just having a good old time. And that is something, creative outlets like that, like art, that's something I brought back into my life after I disconnected from a narcissistic abuser and it really helped me release and helped me feel better and reduced. Speaker 1: (12:32)The anxiety, it gets you out of your head and you're putting that energy out, man. Do like a Jackson. If you, if you're in the angry phase, you get a bunch of those brushes dipped in all those pigments and just start waving all up in the air. Like you just don't gu No, but really there's, there's so many ways to express ourselves in our emotions and after abuse, it's just a, it's a great way, it's a great way to release less, but not least. Number seven, embrace self-reflection and growth. So use this period of healing to engage in, in this self-reflection, in digging a little, right? And it doesn't have to be so hard and dark. It can be, yes, you're gonna have moments, okay, we're gonna have to process, we're gonna have to feel the emotions to get through them. But the longer you try to resist, the harder it is to actually walk through the mud, right? Speaker 1: (13:27)To me, it's like the slower you go or you have a resistance picture, you're walking through mud, it's gonna take longer. I'm the type, I'm like, you know what? I know I gotta do this. I'm gonna feel this pain. I'm gonna let out a big cry about it. I'm gonna do what I gotta do and I'm gonna run. Cause we wanna get to that piece, right? That's why you're here, that recreating yourself, peace, joy, feeling like a queen. We're here for it. So explore your values, your interests, your passions. Rediscover. Who are you? It's you 2.0. You get to decide. You get to create who you want to be. Now you aren't under the thumb of anyone else. You don't have to walk on eggshells anymore, right? So set goals, dream and celebrate even the tiniest achievements. By focusing on your personal growth, you can rebuild your self-esteem and completely regain. Speaker 1: (14:23)I can't say completely, okay, God's in charge, but you know what I mean. You can regain so much more control over your life than you have had up to this point, right? Like how does that feel? Take a breath and just think, how would it feel to feel really in control of my life alongside if you're a God person, which I am. I mean I got my arm and arm of God, me and g o d hanging out. He's got the control, but I get to make so many decisions that free will is there for me to listen to his whispers or his yells. If you're not a God person, I don't know. Listen to the universe, listen to your higher power, whatever. I don't care what it is, but there's something out there that is bigger than us and you get to reach higher and you get to pull from that and know there's many beautiful things in this world and you deserve them just as anybody else. Speaker 1: (15:16)Sometimes we look, oh, why did I have to go through this? Or look at them. They have this right? Comparing, especially with social media. No, you get to create a beautiful life and you have to believe that first before you can do it. So you've gotta do some healing. You've gotta do this work, but I promise you, you can build yourself a beautiful life no matter what the past has been. Okay? Okay? Overcoming this anxiety, these fears after abuse. It is challenging. I'm not gonna lie about that, but it is possible. So remember to be patient and kind to yourself. Give yourself a little hug every day. Say, oh, you're doing so good girl. Look at you. Look at you growing and navigate this healing journey by seeking support, practicing all that good self-care. I mean, that's fun, right? We should get excited about more self-care. Speaker 1: (16:03)Setting those boundaries, those fierce, fierce boundaries cuz you're a queen and embracing the personal growth, you can reclaim that inner strength and pave the way for a brighter, peaceful, more joyful, anxiety free future. How does that sound? That feels so good, doesn't it? Yes. Ooh. All right. Don't forget to go on my show notes. Um, let me look at the date I have. Oh my gosh, we only have two more days if you're listening. No. One more day. If you're listening on Tuesday, it's today and tomorrow I am still doing my May deal where you get a V I P pricing for my journey two piece blueprint. You get one full one-on-one session with me coaching on Zoom. You can either see my face or not. You have an option of video or audio, seems like everybody wants video so we can see each other. Speaker 1: (16:59)And then I will send an email, follow up to our call with our little plan we discuss, and then there will be a mini checkup call at the end. And if you choose to, you can move on and continue to work with me. Weekly is usually how I roll because we love that accountability and really start thriving in your life because that's the name of the podcast. But still she thrives. We gotta thrive. We're here for a short time. We gotta make it the best we can. And yeah, we had some happen, but guess what? We're stronger than that. We are stronger than our past. So check out those show notes, the podcast description, whatever you wanna call it, to sign up for the journey two piece blueprint. Yes. So I'm gonna end with a couple little affirmations cuz you know how I roll. Speaker 1: (17:46)Let's put our hands to our heart. But not if you're driving girl. No. All right. I am safe. I am free. I'm a queen bee. Yeah, I had to, I had to be cheesy and rhyme. Why not? All right. Worry less, smile more. Okay, we're gonna, we're gonna knock these anxieties and fears out. We're gonna get 'em. See you beauties. In the next episode, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you get notified when the episodes come up. And also you can join my free Facebook group. It's in the podcast show notes. And also I have a freebie. If you don't have my meditation, girl, what are you doing? Go get it. It'll say four minute meditation in my podcast notes. It's amazing. Start your day right? Cuz you know when you start it wrong things go wrong. I'm just saying. Okay, love you.

Ep 32 | How to Rebuild Self Esteem After Narcissistic Abuse

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This week we talk about the ways to rebuild self esteem after narcissistic abuse. 
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I am Christy Jade, adoring wife, adoptive mama and narcissistic abuse survivor. I now help other women who have gone through abuse (or are going through it) find confidence, power and peace.
DOMESTIC ABUSE HOTLINE : 800-799-7233
 
TRANSCRIPT

Ep 31 | Did This Toxic Relationship Damage You Forever? The Psychological Effects of Narcissistic Abuse and How to Heal SERIES INTRO

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This weeks starts the series on the Psychological Effects of Narcissistic abuse and how you can start your healing journey in relation to each one! 
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FREEBIE TIME!My FREE 4 MINUTE empowering meditation:
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Join my free facebook group here:
https://facebook.com/groups/christyjade
Have trouble setting boundaries in your life?
Grab my E-Course here:
https://christyjade.podia.com/boundariescourse
And if you just wanna peek around and find out more about me and my work..check out my website! It's FUN AND SPARKLY ;) 
https://christyjade.com/
Want to drop me a line or have a question? Email me anytime!
fiercemamac@gmail.com  
Let's connect on social media!
https://www.instagram.com/fiercechristyjade/
https://www.tiktok.com/@fiercemamachristy
After abuse we need SIMPLE. I created a planner for busy women just like you to navigate your days easier: https://christyjade.podia.com/shethrivesplanner 
I am Christy Jade, adoring wife, adoptive mama and narcissistic abuse survivor. I now help other women who have gone through abuse (or are going through it) find confidence, power and peace.
DOMESTIC ABUSE HOTLINE : 800-799-7233
 
TRANSCRIPT
Speaker 1: (00:00)I am so excited to start this series. This is all about the long-term psychological effects of narcissistic abuse. This is something I go really deep into with my clients and we work on it one-on-one and their customized plan. But I'm starting this series to help more people know about what those effects are, and we'll go as we go on in the series, we will touch on each one more deeply and about how specifically we can help heal each wound. Stay tuned. Speaker 1: (00:32)Hey Queens, welcome to, but still she thrives. Do you wanna stop getting caught up in that wicked web of a creepy crawling narcissist and you find yourself up late at night replaying the abuse you put up with and wondering how you can heal now? Do you wake up hoping for healthy relationships and peace only to feel totally exhausted? And mind F girl, I see you. I'm Christy. I too had to disconnect from toxic people in my life and I wished I could undo the damage I felt ashamed, lonely, and kind of lost. But I'm a stubborn Italian and I refuse to give up. I found ways to recalibrate my mind and body more quickly than I thought and can now share them with you. In this podcast, you'll find coping tools, healing methods, and confidence boosters so you can trust yourself and find peace and freedom. So shields up ladies. Let's go protect our peace. Speaker 1: (01:30)The long-term psychological effects of narcissistic abuse can be significant and have a lasting impact on the victims. So we're gonna talk today about some common effects that survivors may experience. Let us dive on in. So first, a big one, low self-esteem. Pretty much every client I work with, every victim I've spoken to and myself has had narcissistic abuse that results in lower self-esteem. It often involves consistent criticism, belittling and demeaning behavior, right? So obviously over time, especially if you've been in a really long-term relationship, whether it's during your childhood or a romantic relationship or even a friendship, this can erode a person's self-esteem leading to feelings of worthlessness and self-doubt. I know for myself, between my childhood and my adult sh in between there, starting at a young age because I was put down and told that I was stupid or I wasn't interesting or whatever it was that my narcissist used to say to me to make it as if I was not as smart as them. Speaker 1: (02:46)I was not as good as them would know the right buttons to push that over time. And honestly, pretty quickly in my childhood, I became a person who believed that they were not, not capable enough, especially in the academic area, which I was smart. I am smart, right? We all have our strengths in any academic area. One may be more than the other, like English and creative versus scientific and math, whatever. But I was convinced I wasn't really good at anything. Even though I was in honors classes, I felt like it was almost imposter syndrome. Like maybe I'm just somehow getting by somehow. That's not really true. I was really brainwashed that I was stupid. I'm sure a lot of you can relate to that. A lot of us are made to feel like we are not as valuable as the narcissist. We are not smart, we are not capable. Speaker 1: (03:40)They want us to be dependent on them and to need them. So they will reiterate and repeat how not intelligent we are in some form. And this completely will trash our self-esteem as time goes on. So if you have low self-esteem, if you have low self-worth, you are not alone. And it makes absolute sense that you don't if you have been a victim of narcissistic abuse. Another super annoying side effect of narcissistic abuse is anxiety and fear. So victims of narcissistic abuse may develop chronic anxiety and fear due to the unpredictable nature of the relationship. So if you grew up or in a a romantic relationship, any situation with a narcissist where you had to walk on eggshells, you had to look over your shoulder and wonder what mood are they gonna be? Are they going to mentally exhaust me? Are they going to physically hit me? Speaker 1: (04:34)Are they going to keep me away from my family? I had plans with today? Whatever it is, there's always fear underneath when you're dealing with a narcissist. So this will bleed into other parts of your life, even after you have disconnected from the narcissist. Something that is, that ingrained will continue on. So it's absolutely necessary, obviously to get help for all this. Again, we will be talking about how to heal these situations and these wounds in this series. So make sure to subscribe on whatever platform you're listening. Depression, ugh, this one is rough. That big dark gloomy cloud that takes over your life makes you feel like you don't have any motivation. You don't wanna get outta bed, maybe you don't wanna shower. Maybe you feel like you have nobody in your life, you're alone. Even if you have a couple friends, you might have a million friends, but you feel this isolation, this loneliness, this downward spiral. Speaker 1: (05:35)Um, if you're in a narcissistic situation, you may feel like you are stuck and can't get out. And even after you are out of this situation, this can still linger. Depression can still linger. You can have guilt, you can have shame. You can have a lot of depression based feelings that occur because of their gaslighting. That can really, really cause depression and being in your head too much cuz you're always trying to figure out what you did wrong or are you crazy? So victims may feel hopeless, helpless, and trapped even when you are outside of the situation. Your mind can still feel trapped. And this is normal when you are in or out of any narcissistic abusive situation. All right, let's just gather around for a big warm welcome to the complex post-traumatic stress disorder. See P T S D, you've probably heard this, especially narcissistic abuse victims. Speaker 1: (06:33)If you had star, if you have started studying this, you know, people will talk about narcissistic abuse, ptsd, it is common. It can cause symptoms similar to those of PTs D but with additional features related to the long-term nature of abuse because some of us have gone our entire lives under the thumb of a narcissist. So survivors may experience flashbacks, hypervigilance, disassociation, and difficulty forming, trusting relationships. I know a lot of you have talked to me about how you feel like you cannot trust not just other people, but your own relationship with yourself. You have trust issues because you feel like you can't trust yourself, that you're not going to get yourself into another narcissistic relationship, whether that is just because that's what you're used to from your childhood or your upbringing, or whether that's because you chose a relationship that ended up being narcissistic, which is not your fault. Speaker 1: (07:35)I wanna reiterate that. But this is something that can occur in PTs, D and C, PTs D where it can feel a little worse with C P T S D if it is a longer amount of time. You have more time that you have doubted yourself and you look back and think, gosh, I dealt with a and maybe, uh, quote, I chose to, which I hate that. I hate that wording, but a lot of people say that to me. Well, I chose this relationship, right? I don't like to think of it that way. That's a whole other episode. But that is something that can happen from that sort of relationship because you look back on it almost with a guilt and a lack of trust. So trying to move forward, trying to gain trust in a new relationship, you can feel totally scared, terrified, and not trusting of yourself. Speaker 1: (08:26)Again, these are very normal, normal effects of narcissistic abuse. More of those trust issues, the external trust issues repeated betrayals and emotional manipulation have occurred in a narcissistic relationship, right? So this can make it very challenging for you to trust others. And you may become guarded and suspicious of anyone fearing others will take advantage of you and hurt you. Again, emotional dysregulation. This is a recent buzzword. I'm glad it's getting more attention. Narcissistic abuse can disrupt a person's ability to regulate their emotions. Survivors may experience intense mood swings, difficulty managing your anger or your sadness and struggling with stabilizing your emotions. That's what it is. They're dysregulated, they're up, they're down. You can feel like your own emotions are not predictable. And this is again, a very normal side effect of narcissistic abuse, if you wanna call it that. Um, it's very common and I think first of all, knowing about it and shining a light on it can help saying, okay, this isn't me being crazy or being, because we get called crazy a lot when we are abused by a narcissist. Speaker 1: (09:47)Can I get a what, what? Yes. So this is finally shining a light on this and saying, wow, this is actually a side effect. This is an effect of abuse, emotional dysregulation. So again, very, very common. And we'll go to the next one, which is self blame and guilt. So often narcissists will shift the blame onto their victims. Very common. I mean a hundred percent common, making you believe that the abuse is your fault. So this can lead to feelings of guilt, self blame, and a very distorted sense of responsibility for the abusive behavior. We, which we touched on a little bit, especially reflecting back. But even while you're in it, sometimes that is why we stay in the situations we are, um, made to believe that it's our fault. And if we didn't do X, y, z, this narcissist would not act this way. Speaker 1: (10:43)I'm here to tell you that's. They will act that way no matter what it is. Not you, it is them, but they are going to make you feel like it is your fault. And even when you disconnect from a narcissist, you can absolutely still have this guilt and shame and it is a very, very normal feeling to come out of narcissistic relationships, feeling this way, still having that guilt, guilt, still questioning yourself. And you are not alone in this at all. All right? Having boundary issues, this is a huge one. You may have had boundary issues to begin with and they, it can only get worse because narcissists stick abuse often involves a violation of personal boundaries. They don't respect boundaries, right? So survivors may struggle with setting and maintaining boundaries in their relationships, in their future relationships leading to difficulties in asserting their needs and protecting themselves from harm. Speaker 1: (11:42)Even though when we get out, we get this relief and all of that, it's so ingrained in us to almost people please and be afraid. We're afraid to set boundaries, right? But I'm gonna help you with that. Yes I am. Stick with me, I'm the boundary queen. Now, social isolation, ooh, those narcissists will isolate their victims from family, from friends and support networks, right? They want you again, dependent on them. As a result, survivors may experience social withdrawal, difficulty forming new relationships, even if you want to. There's this subconscious pull that it just feels scary or wrong because of what you've been through. And you could have a feeling of loneliness. I've experienced this myself. I mean, even at a, at a time I had 50 friends. I'm an extrovert, all these people in my life because of narcissistic situations and what you are led to believe in your mind, you can feel very lonely regardless of what connections you do have. Speaker 1: (12:49)I want to just add in here, it is very important to have support after you have disconnected from a narcissist or narcissistic situation. Um, especially if they were like your main squeeze. Um, it's so important to try to reconnect with old people in your life and be honest with those people and try to gain that support or new friendships. And it's difficult. I have a couple of episodes on friendship that I will post, but also there will be upcoming episodes about this topic. Last but not least, self-doubt and identity confusion. So the constant gaslighting and manipulation can make victims question their perceptions and reality, right? So I get it. You may lose touch with your own identity, your preferences, the values, right? Because you have been dependent on this person or they have created a dependency on them where they are controlling you, you are under their control. Speaker 1: (13:52)You are letting them make all of your decisions, right? So you don't even know what you like and don't like anymore. And you have now been conditioned to prioritize the needs and desires of the narcissistic abuser rather than yourself. So this is a huge part of what I do is recreating your identity as the new you U 2.0. I'll keep saying it because that's what, that's what I do with a lot of my clients, right? Where are you now? Where do you wanna be? And let's figure out who the hell you are. I mean, we know it's a queen, but what kind of specific queen are you ? So it's important to note that the impact of this abuse can vary from person to person, right? Not everyone will experience all of these effects, though a lot of them are very, very common. So seeking professional help from someone like me who is experienced in narcissistic abuse specifically can be very beneficial for survivors in addressing and healing these psychological effects. Speaker 1: (14:58)So as always, you can look at the links in my show notes to uh, find the ways to work with me and I will have anything I mentioned link below in those show notes. Whatever platform you are on, you can find it. And a reminder is this the last week? This may be the last week. I have I think just one more slot open for my blueprint journey two piece, um, which is one call. And then we have like a little mini checkup call, but we do a customized blueprint for you if you are looking for a boost into your healing. Um, I will put that link definitely in the show notes. So check that out. And that is just through the month of May. You are grandfathered into that pricing. If you sign up and you do it in June instead, you'll still get the same pricing, but you have to sign up in May. So I'll put that link if that, that's a great way to start working with me. And it's, it's a really, it's a really great deal. It is half off my regular price, so I'm so excited to work with more of you. So check out my show notes and I will talk to you in the next episode. And don't forget, you are not your narcissistic abuse effects. They do not define you and you can heal and you are a queen.

Ep 30 | How Narcissistic Abuse Changed Me with Special Guest Carol Lorraine

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Join me and special guest Carol Lorraine in a conversation about how much narcissistic abuse can affect your life, but you can still come out thriving!
The book Carol mentioned:
Getting the Love You Want
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TRANSCRIPT
Speaker 1: (00:02)Hey, Queens, welcome to, but still, she thrives. Do you wanna stop getting caught up in that wicked web of a creepy crawling narcissist? Do you find yourself up late at night replaying the abuse you put up with, and wondering how you can heal now? Do you wake up hoping for healthy relationships and peace only to feel totally exhausted and mind effed? Girl, I see you. I'm Christy. I too had to disconnect from toxic people in my life, and I wished I could undo the damage. I felt ashamed, lonely, and kind of lost. But I'm a stubborn Italian and I refused to give up. I found ways to recalibrate my mind and body more quickly than I thought, and can now share them with you. In this podcast, you will find coping tools, healing methods, and confidence boosters so you can trust yourself and find peace and freedom. So, shields up ladies, let's go protect our peace. Speaker 2: (01:00)And I have a special guest today. I'm so excited to have on. This is my friend, my personal friend, Carol Lorraine, and she is the owner of Sizzling Marketing Group. She is a marketing genius. She actually helps me with my marketing, and she has been a client of mine and we're friends, so we have a lot of history together. Um, I'm so excited to have you on. Welcome. Speaker 3: (01:25)Thank you. I'm so excited to be on your podcast. I'm a fan, I'm a fan of her podcast. . I've, I keep learning through it as well, even though I've been studying this for a while. But I always learn something new. So I tell people that as well. Like, just listen, you're, you'll learn something new, a new perspective, something. Speaker 2: (01:43)Yes. Yes. And Carol, like she said, she has done some research and education herself on narcissistic abuse and had her own experience. So I guess we can start there. What has your experience been with narcissistic abuse up to this point in your life? ? Speaker 3: (02:01)Uh, I definitely have been in a romantic relationship with one. Didn't really realize that until later when I started learning more about it. But that was, yeah, I've had some relationships where there were the narcissistic behaviors going on. I definitely understood back then it was like, this is not what I want. But I understood more later about avoiding attachments, narcissistic behaviors. There's obviously a spectrum on it, so not everyone's like horrible, but they do have tendencies. So, Speaker 2: (02:39)Yes. So what, what point or the culmination of things, what made you kind of want to dive deeper to get that deeper understanding? Similar to my situation where I just reached a point, um, did you have a specific point where that hit or that light bulb was like, I really wanna dive deeper and like really understand what's going on with the whole narcissism thing, because it's such a word that's thrown around and not used correctly and all of that. So Speaker 3: (03:07)Yes. It was when, it was a few years ago, I think I caught it on YouTube or something. It was a clip of Oprah and Kate Hudson, and they were talking about relationships, talking about how we attract certain people in our lives, certain types of relationships. And they mentioned some book, and I don't remember the name, but I'll find it. And that way you can link it mm-hmm. . But it was, um, they were speaking such high praise about it. And Kate Hudson said, this book inspired me to break up with a relationship at that time. And she said, it's because I realized why I attracted that man in my life. And I realized why I attracted the same man in my life in a different body. Mm-hmm. . And it was of unhealed issues she had going on unhealed wounds that she hadn't faced yet. Speaker 3: (03:56)And it was like, oh my God. Right? Like, okay, there's something I'm doing that is attracting something. Like I wanna learn what I'm doing. I wanna learn what these wounds are and how to fix them. And so it was doing that deep dive, learning more about attachments, learning more about like trauma wounds and all those things. And I was like, oh my gosh. And so then I realized, and I looked at, okay, what are there patterns in people I've dated? Like is there something I can find that has been a pattern? And some of them were different, but yeah, there was somes similarities and some of them. And I thought, okay, now I know why I attracted that. And I now at least the good thing is I can fix that. Speaker 2: (04:34)Yes. So for you, what was, what you first of all noticed as the pattern in your, well, let's start with who you dated. Was there a certain pattern that really showed up? I know you mentioned kind of avoidant. Can you go deeper into that a little bit? Speaker 3: (04:51)And, you know, not everybody was avoidant. So, and I actually, I was not avoidant with everybody either. I was the ones avoidant with me. So, but I actually did have really secure relationships too. I, one of my really good friends is an ex-boyfriend of mine from college, and we talked about our relationship and I was like, we actually have a very good relationship. Yeah. The only reason was because I realized he was an alcoholic. Mm-hmm. , that was, I recognized earlier in my life that I, I didn't realize until after I was dating them that they were alcoholics. They were all very funny. They were all, they made me laugh. Like I had a lot of fun with them. But after spending more time dating them, I started realizing, this isn't healthy. This person's actually an alcoholic, you know? Mm-hmm. And that mean this. But then I realized, why am I attracting alcoholic after alcoholic? Speaker 3: (05:37)You know, what is it about these people? You know, obviously they were all funny and charismatic and all those things. But then I realized, you know, they, they did have, and then, and then I started to pinpoint certain things about their backgrounds, their childhoods of what led them to utilize alcoholism to self-sooth. Yes. But one pattern I found was the alcoholism, um, the avoidant with some of them. See, he was not an avoidant, that particular boyfriend of mine, um, he was an alcoholic, but we had a very good relationship aside from that. Like, we really didn't even fight, you know? I mean, even when I brought up a couple concerns, he like fixed it immediately. And I told him that like, you were actually a really good boyfriend, aside from the fact that I just didn't wanna be with someone who I couldn't go out to dinner with and you'd not get drunk. You know, like, Speaker 2: (06:23)Yeah. Right. It was just Speaker 4: (06:24)Like Speaker 3: (06:25)That. And I was like, oh, you know, like, I don't want that, you know, I just wanna be able to go to dinner and then we just have a nice dinner and come home. And it's not like you're slamming like shots, you know, after one, another party till like three in the AM on a Tuesday night, you know? Speaker 2: (06:38)Yes. And speaking of alcoholism, that is something that can be common for narcissists to B because, well, a, they have a lot of pain inside and a lot of them use that as an escaping mechanism. Mm-hmm. . And also, you know, like you said, it's a way for them to, you know, do that self soothing in general. Mm-hmm. . And as far as your pattern that you saw in yourself, like you said, so some of it was avoidance. Was there anything else that popped up for you that you learned and, and kind of chipped away at so that you could heal? Speaker 4: (07:15)Yes. I recognized for me the, gosh, it depended cuz it was with different people. Mm-hmm. , like I, I was able to have secure relationships with some people and there was other people I was not. And so I think with the ones I was not able to have a more, just, more like steady relationship with. I ran away a lot. I did not handle, you know, I just, like, if I saw something that triggered me, I was out, you know? Mm-hmm. breaking up with them a lot later on, getting back with 'em, you know, I had like those rollercoaster relationships. Yes. Yes. Whereas the difference now is I wouldn't do that again. So now, like since two years since my last breakup, and I've healed thanks to a lot of our work, I think we're meeting like every week Speaker 2: (08:07). Yes. But Speaker 4: (08:09)Thanks to that, now if I see an issue that I know will be problematic in terms of compatibility, I already know and I'm not going to even engage further anymore. And I'm totally at peace with the fact just knowing like, we're not compatible enough, reas my old self would still continue and think, well, maybe I can work on that and maybe I can fix and, you know, maybe we can. And, and now I'm like, no, there's certain things that I know are really crucial to a foundation of a healthy relationship. And if, and it needs to feel peaceful for me, there needs to be conflict resolution skills, there needs to be self-awareness. And I no longer wanna be somebody's coach. I no longer want to do those things. Right. I, you know, would like to have someone who's already done that work as well, because I can't be in something now that doesn't feel peaceful. Cuz now I know what that feels like and I can't go back to the chaos in the rollercoaster anymore. But I was used to a rollercoaster life growing up, which is why the rollercoaster was okay for me. Like, I mean, I ran away a lot growing up, and so packing my and leaving was like, this is the norm. Speaker 2: (09:22)Just another day. just another day. Yes. And that's a great point to bring up. Um, because yes, if we grow up in, you know, narcissistic environments or just any sort of abuse of, or even just being dismissed, and I've talked about this recently of some of my clients, even just being dismissed, not feeling like you're important or heard. And that could be generational too with kids that is like, you know, yeah. Be seen and not heard. You know, I'm the parent and the, not like a mutual respect. Um, but that can, when you have some sort of environment that is some sort of trauma or up and down like that, and you and I have talked about this too, where you're so, you're just so comfortable with it that you, it's like you don't know any better. So a lot of us who have been in romantic situations, it, it does usually point to the fact that as children, we were in some sort of dynamic, whether it's narcissistic or not, where we felt comfortable with the chaos or the up and down, almost like, it, it felt safe in a way for us that was like a comfort of, and that could be like, oh, they may, my parent is so up and down where it's that over the top. Speaker 2: (10:39)I always say like, Eminem and Kim, right? It's like mm-hmm. that up and down where the good is really, really good, almost like blissful mm-hmm. . And the, the lows are so low and you, you feel so bad, but, so then you just ache and seek that high again. And it's like almost becomes an addiction to that big dopamine hit. Um, which, and that you and I also spoke about recently, um, getting into relationships that are healthy, such as me and my husband and whatever, where it's like, oh, this is what it's supposed to feel like. It's not those crazy highs and big lows. Not like we don't have great days or great dates and different things, but yeah. It's a lot more even and not, oh my gosh, I'm on cloud a thousand and the world is perfect and then these deep lows Speaker 4: (11:33)And, and my prehealth cell would get boring. Yes. In healthier relationships. Like I said, I did have some fun secure relationships, so maybe it wasn't all attributed to that, but I do remember with my ex-husband when we first started dating about a month and a half in, I was just like, this is too easy. Yes. Speaker 2: (11:55)I was just gonna say, it's exactly what I said with my husband. I was like, I was like, I Speaker 4: (11:59)Think I'm gonna break up with him. I don't know, something off about this. Like, I don't know, I'm, and I remember like having to talk to son, be like, you actually, you actually prayed for somebody like this. Mm-hmm. , what are you gonna do? Do you really wanna go back to your like, toxic previous relationship? Which is kind of what I was considering. Yeah. Like going back to the like person beforehand. Yeah. Speaker 2: (12:21)Almost like there's an excitement and uncertainty that we Speaker 4: (12:25)Get Speaker 2: (12:26)Used to. Speaker 4: (12:27)Well, I got so used to, well, and also growing up, I growing up I would leave and then my parents like, you know, and they didn't have to like beg me back. And, uh, I got used to that to me being like, I'm glad I had like, okay, I'm leaving, right? This is, I don't like this. Um, but then I got used to someone constantly begging me back and so like in the previous relationship I was so used to leaving him, like doing whatever he needed to do to get me back. So like getting with my husband, uh, ex-husband, I was like, this is weird. There's like, you know, I subconsciously, I was kind of like, where's the drama? Where's the, you know, like this. Speaker 2: (13:06)Yeah. Speaker 4: (13:07)You know what I mean? It's almost Speaker 2: (13:08)The cat and mouse or the game of it. Yeah. Speaker 4: (13:11)Yeah. Like I don't, I don't even wanna call it excitement, but like, something just felt so different and I, I'm, you know, I ended up staying and not breaking up with him and doing all that thing, but we ended up still having like a, you know, we, we still had like a tornado hurricane relationship anyways, so he had, you know, unhealed things also from his past. And then we did not fight well, you know, like mm-hmm. , he, we did not fight well and you know, it was so that was like bad if we'd get an argument it was get like worse, you know? So. Right. Um, and I'm so glad that the boyfriend had, after him, he was like, so calm, like, so calm, so patient, you know, if we were arguing he was like, I was just like so impressed with like how calm he was. I was like, oh wow, . Um, that's so different. Yeah. Speaker 2: (14:03)And it's refreshing. I mean, after you get over the hill of it, like I did with my husband at first, I, I was literally just waiting for a shoe to drop. I'm like, okay, this first of all cannot be real. This is too easy. And then once I was like, I worked on myself a little to be like, you deserve easy peace. It's okay. Like I just wasn't used to it and kind of almost had to train myself to be okay with a healthy relationship. Speaker 4: (14:28)And Speaker 2: (14:29)Then it's like, even if it doesn't work out, if it's someone that's healthier and you know, like you and your ex may have not worked out, but you saw, look, there's, this is what it should feel like. The calm part of it and the, you know, maybe I don't know what, what worked and what didn't in that relationship, but whatever worked, it's realizing, oh, this is out there and I, I can get that and I deserve that behavior and that communication or whatever it is, it's, it's nice to, for me it was something I never really had until my husband. So having, it was this just light bulb of like, this exists. Like, once I got over the hump of like deciding, hey, I do want this and I'm okay and I deserve this. It was like relaxing into that. It was scary. But, so just, I don't even wanna say happy cuz it's a calmer feeling. Just this peace of like, I can have a life like this holy. You know? Yeah. Speaker 4: (15:27)Like, this exists and, you know, and I've met, I've dated, um, several men since my last relationship in the last two years. Some of them, you know, a couple months and then some of them just here and there because they don't live here. Speaker 2: (15:41)Mm-hmm. . Speaker 4: (15:42)And luckily they've all been, you know, very, most of them have been like just really great solid men. And, and it's really refreshing because the only unfortunate part was like, oh, they don't live here. I'm not doing that again. You know, like, I'm not doing long distance again. Old Carol would've done that, not this one. I'm not committing to somebody that's not in my vicinity. You know, there's already enough things that contribute to obstacles and relationships. I'm not gonna have the long distance one be an extra one. I, I did a long distance before I got married the whole time. We were long distance and then it created, I shouldn't say it created, but the fact that we didn't live in the same place and have all that, when we got married and lived together, it was very hard to navigate. Yes. When I moved to Houston and we were like living together for the first time and in the same city and the same home for the first time, it was rocky. That first nine months. Really rocky. Speaker 2: (16:38)Wow. Yeah. I had a, a long distance relationship as well. Same as you. Um, I think the earlier me would have been just like so excited, like, oh, I have this guy who likes me and I like him. And almost like, I don't say I was desperate, but a desperate energy toward the relationship because I was like, oh, this guy's great, you know? And then I had to realize, yes, but it just started, it was going on too long to not be together and same as you. It just doesn't work for me. It works for some people. Great. It just, it, it didn't work for me. So it was like, you know, that's okay. I see there, you know, he was a nice enough guy. I won't say the level of my husband cuz like nobody is, not nobody, but I mean mm-hmm. it, I didn't date many nice nicer guys anyway. And, um, it was just cool to see like, okay, well that can possibly happen. And then, you know, then I met my husband, which was just unreal and really like, I Okay, that's like a whole other level and Speaker 4: (17:44)Yeah. Well, and, and even, so here's the other reason I attracted certain dynamics because again, I didn't really know peace yet. I barely reached that in 2022. Um, which I'm so glad I did. It was just life changing. The caliber of men that exist, like your husband, like some of my friend's, husband's, boyfriends. I truly didn't believe in that. I didn't believe in it. I didn't think that existed. So I settled for what I thought was like, well this is, I mean, that's the best it's gonna get. Speaker 2: (18:22)Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 4: (18:23)Like, I just really just thought, you know, we asked, we're offload, but now when I really, and it's part of it, that part of that's my fault too. You have to believe in something to start seeing it, right? Yes. So once I started believing that and telling a different story that there are men, like the kind of me true like dream man I would want, that would be working for me, you know, a good fit for me. Mm-hmm. , I started seeing them like a lot more. Like I, I started meeting a lot of them. Unfortunately they don't live here, but I'm like, well, at least it's nice to see that there's so many great men out there and too bad we don't live in the same city, we're too far from each other. But it was really refreshing. Um, and you know, so when they come in town, when I'm over there, we'll see each other and it's fun and it's still nice to be in their presence, but yeah. And that, that was also cha like big Speaker 2: (19:14)For me. Yeah. And that's a great takeaway for listeners who are post narcissistic abuse can, as we know, do a lot of damage to our self-esteem and all of that, but also our faith and our trust. And even I had someone say, do I even wanna trust, like they're scared to even want to trust even open up vulnerable. Speaker 4: (19:35)Oh, I was terrified. So after the, the one I dated, I was 19 and, uh, we dated a few months, but he ended up being Yeah. At the end of the relationship. And that's when you learn more about a person when they're not getting their way right. Yeah. So at the end of the relationship when I left the relationship, the things he was doing, like threatening to kill himself, threatening to come to my home, you know, just harassing me to a certain extent. It, and I ended up, I remember doing something I regretted so bad doing. I remember paying a credit card for him because I kept, they kept calling him and I was like, why don't you just pay it? You know? And I, yeah. And I remember my gut instinct said, don't do that. But then I had to hold, I'd be such a bad girlfriend if I don't pay this credit card for him, which mm-hmm. Speaker 4: (20:15)that I was mad at myself for years after that. I was so angry, so bitter with men after him, went through a depression after that. Like, I just completely changed who I was for a while. Had no faith in men. And I literally called him Satan. Like that was his name for everybody knew. Like, I did not call him his name. His name was Satan for like, that was, I was like, yeah, my ex-boyfriend, I call him Satan. Um, I don't feel like that anymore. But for a while, like I, I had so much resentment towards all man because of him and, and just how much he switched on me, you know, after I think he thought like I had no other options or something. And I was la think again, fu , Speaker 2: (20:56)You're like back. Yeah. Sometimes it's empowering. Uh, yes. My ex told me, he said, you will never, when he realized he used to do same stuff, right? It's kind of like harassing and leaving stuff flowers and calls and tears. And when he finally realized like, oh, I think she's really serious this time, cuz we had broken up a couple times. He looked at me dead in the eye and said, you are never going to find someone like me. And I looked at 'em back and I said, thank God for that. Right? Yeah. Um, but sometimes it's almost empowering if you're at that point to have them turn, turn into the real them in the moment where they're not doing the like, oh, let me get her heartstrings or, you know, winner back over. And they have that moment where they can't help themselves and they have to be that. And that's Speaker 4: (21:51)Why I told them Satan, cuz I remember like the last, one of the last times I spoke to him in person, the last time I saw him in person, I had a, and I remember just telling, I was looking at him, I was so disgusted. I was like, who's this evil creature that was repulsed? And I remember like, I don't know what I told him, and he said he, I never will forget. He like kind of leaned back and he was just like, it was like such a fun, such an egotistical thing to say. But he said, yeah, sometimes I just like to lean back and look at all of the work I've done. like the, the, the, the Yeah. Messed up. I was like, Speaker 2: (22:27)Oh my Speaker 4: (22:28)Gosh, get me out of here. Right? Yeah. So like that kind of egotistical, narcissistic behavior absolutely. Repulses me. It disgusts me. Like complete, like any romantic feelings I had is like completely demolished at that point. I'm like, let's, ew. What a monster. Speaker 2: (22:46)Yeah. Let, and let's touch on that just for people who are listening and I, I've done some red flagged episodes and stuff, but for you, what, what are a few like deal breakers that seem narcissistic or abusive or just sign of a toxic person, right? We can label what we want, but at the end of the day, whatever toxic type of trait, what are a couple of those that stand out that you're just like, nope, Speaker 4: (23:11)Gaslighting. I know not everybody knows what that means, but someone who tries to create a scenario in which they try to make you feel like you're crazy or you don't know what you're talking about. Um, someone who you can't even disagree with without their claiming you're arguing, you know, or someone that is trying to make you think, you know, I I'm smart and educated enough to know what the going on. You know what I mean? Yes. Like, you ain't convincing me I'm nothing. I don't care who you are. Um, and, and I'm, I'm again ugly. I've been in healthy relationships where I can have, you know, these conversations right. With my boyfriend, my partner, and they're not doing that to me and they have a very healthy response. And so like, not having that healthy response is like, ugh, cringe. Yes. Get me outta here. Speaker 2: (23:53)It's such a turnoff now. Right? It is Speaker 4: (23:55)Disgusting. It is absolutely disgusting to me for somebody to try to, to do that to anybody really. Someone who's not self-aware, can't, can't do it. You know, I, I wonder like, that's why I ask, you know, when they about previous relationships and I wanna know how do they respond when I ask, well, what, you know, what do you think she'd say when people ask about you and her? Like what is she, what is her perception of the relationship? I love Speaker 2: (24:17)That. Speaker 4: (24:18)Because, you know, if they're only saying negative things, I mean, we all have neg I could say negative things about myself if I want to, but like, what would that person say were your issues. Mm-hmm. , what would the person say that made her feel bad or made her mad or triggered her? Like, what were your downfalls? You know? Yeah. Um, I love Speaker 2: (24:36)It. You got 'em up on that desk doing an interview, . Speaker 4: (24:39)Yeah. Well, and I learned that actually from, who was the girl that did singled out? Speaker 2: (24:45)Oh, Jenny McCarthy. Speaker 4: (24:46)I read a book of hers a long time ago, probably like 20 years ago. Yeah. And it was like a relationship book, but it was like a memoir, like kind of funny. But she talked about that and she said through her therapy she learned and that she, a guy friend was like complaining about his girlfriend and what she wasn't doing anymore, like, you know mm-hmm. , everything was on her. And she's like, okay, well, like cool. Now if I gave her the opportunity to vent about you, what would she say? You know, I love Speaker 2: (25:10)It. Speaker 4: (25:10)And yeah. And I was like, that's such a good way to reflect. And even on me, if I went to my ex-husband, my ex-partner, and I said, Hey, I want you to just have a vent session about me, what would you say? So even self-reflecting on that and thinking, what could they say? You know, what could I have done better? You know, what, what, what could they complain about me just to, to work on those things. Speaker 2: (25:33)Yeah. And it's not comfortable. Like none of us wanna sit there and like think about all our faults, but I think for those of us who have been through the work, who are self-aware, we're able to still do it anyway. And that is a difference. I mean, try to get a narcissist to, to talk about their faults. I mean Oh yeah. There'll be a red flag right away. They'll, they'll stutter or make a joke or something. There's no way they're gonna really pull Speaker 4: (25:59)That out. I asked one actually last few months. Yeah. Um, I asked somebody and he, when I asked, well, what, what would, what does she say? You know, I know you've said a lot and what, what does she, what does she say is the reason? Yeah. And he completely like, immediately, like just, he was like, oh, and I, of course she said, you know, whatever her things and, and that's it. He did not, he did not say what she says. So you didn't answer the question. I didn't say that, but I was like, that wasn't enough information for me to be like, no self-awareness, no ability to share. Speaker 2: (26:29)Yeah. You know, Speaker 4: (26:30)And, Speaker 2: (26:31)And a reminder, don't be afraid to ask these hard questions. Yeah. I know like you and I are perhaps bolder than some people, but give yourself permission. You know, like even if you're a more passive personality, you have to remember you are creating a new life for yourself after narcissistic abuse. And the only way you're gonna do that is by creating boundaries and setting standards for yourself. And, and these things can be part of that. So asking those hard questions, think of it as you could be saving yourself from a lot, a long time of pain or trying to figure something out when by these questions you can get a big peak under the hood . Right. Speaker 4: (27:11)Well, you know what in, Speaker 2: (27:12)What's in there? Speaker 4: (27:14)The difference too, when somebody has done work and their way they respond. So for example, my ex-boyfriend, uh, from college, I'll just, I'll call him D and uh, he said I could talk about him. We had, we, like I said, we didn't have a bad relationship. We had a really good relationship and we laugh about it all the time. We were together, like, we dated like three to four months mm-hmm. , but we were together every day cuz we worked together. We were together every day Yeah. For like, you know, 12 to almost 24 hours, you know, during that time for the span of three to four months. So I was like, even though we only dated three to four months, like that's a lot of time we spent together work, we got to know each other through work anyways. But when me and him talk about these conversations, and I'll ask him that about his previous, you know, longer term relationships and his responses are, that's a, that's a good question. And you know, I've reflected on that and I, what I did wrong. Mm. He's so comfortable. That's great. Answering those questions. He's already reflected on it. And if it is a question I've asked that he hasn't considered, same thing, God, that's a really good question. And then he'll answer it like, he has no discomfort. I love that. Sharing all those things as opposed to a man who's like, oh yeah. You know, just completely like, get me out. Speaker 2: (28:26)Well, of course she has her crazy narrative or her story, but Speaker 4: (28:30)Right, right, right, right. Yeah. It's so, it's, it's very different from a person who truly has done work and they can take a question like that. And it's not like triggering. It's like they appreciate like this really cool dialogue and reflection going on, reflecting on things. They're comfortable with it. And you know, usually people that have another work, they, they're not comfortable with it, but they're gonna escape that question fast. Speaker 2: (28:54)Yes. So, obviously we know this affects romantic relationships and for myself and my life, it has affected almost every other aspect of life. So, curious how this has affected maybe your friendships, if it's huge impact on my friendships, um, and just what I tolerated growing up versus now what do I tolerate and, uh, work life even just in day-to-day. Um, touch on how it's affected things outside of romance. Speaker 4: (29:22)I know back in college, I reached a point maybe somewhere midway in college. So leading up to that, of course you have your friends through elementary, middle school, high school. Unfortunately, you tolerate some things cuz you gotta see these people every day. Right. And sometimes it's better to keep someone close and keep them as an enemy. mm-hmm. . Um, but I reached a point where I completely no longer had anybody close to me who I could not trust around the man I was dating, who I could not trust around my money, my purse, who I could not trust to not just say bad to me, to a a friend. I introduced them to like someone who's trying to take my friends away or turn my friends against me, still my boyfriend. You know. And I had a lot of that for a long time. Not from a lot of friends, but mainly like one or a couple. Um, and I reached a piece even just from like relationship, like friendships I should say, um, for a long time. And I didn't come across another woman like that until, um, I was like 29, 30, something like that. And I recognized it immediately. Speaker 2: (30:28)No, don't, can't excuse it. Some people excuse it like, oh well she's insecure such a, I just don't care and I don't have time for that. Me neither. Like, we talk about it, Carol and I, we have phone conversations and she's one of my most uplifting friends and we have that dynamic and it feels so good. I've said to her, like, I just, I love our friendship because it's just like we're each other's cheerleaders and we wanna see each other rise. And, and that's how it should be. And some people just excu, there's a lot of jealous Speaker 4: (30:56)Yeah. Speaker 2: (30:57)Women who knock each other down out there. Mm-hmm. competitive and mm-hmm. . And it's just like, I, I don't get it. I just think it's gross. So, anyway. Speaker 4: (31:04)Well, and I think also something is, um, something like you and I have in common and also my other really close friendships. Um, and it's that even if something's going wrong, you know, even if you're struggling with something in your life, which I've, we've been friends long enough that you have, there are some things that you were struggling with and vice versa obviously is going through like, the most horrible breakup of my life. . Yeah. Um, but we never, and I knew, I never even had to worry about it. Like, felt jealous of one another, felt like I couldn't applaud you for anything great going on. It just like, for me, it's always inspiring to see great things happening for other people. Cause I'm like, that can happen for me. You know, like Right. I'm excited for you, especially considering the, you know, previous thing that's happened in your life and all my other friends. Speaker 4: (31:50)But it's also exciting cause it's just like, oh, it's like what the possibilities, right? Like that can happen for anybody. Yes. So, um, but yeah, there are those friends and I'm sure you've had 'em, that like, if things aren't going well in their life, like they don't want them going well in your life either. Oh yeah. And it's like, oh, like, you know, you can't even like, say anything and you can't be yourself anymore around them cuz you're like, okay. Like, I can tell they're just, they don't want, they don't, they're not happy to see things going well for me right now and that makes me uncomfortable and doesn't make me feel safe and secure around them. Mm-hmm. Speaker 2: (32:19). And, and if they're triggered, you know, like that to me, you know, my, not my phrase I say all the time mm-hmm. , I overuse it and it might sound cold, but it's really just like, no, it's not mine to carry their triggers. And yes, I can have compassion, but if it's a pattern of somebody who is going to be jealous or whatever, like that's okay. But you can do that from a distance and you can go get help and therapy or whatever you gotta do to work through that. Because I don't wanna end up being like a punching bag for someone else's Speaker 4: (32:48)Mm-hmm. Speaker 2: (32:50)Stuff. Like, I went and did the work and I got help for certain things that did trigger me. Right. Um, in my life. And I think it's, it's up to us, it's up, uh, to us to make the decision that we wanna do better instead of sitting in those feelings of envy or, you know, com competitiveness. It's like, well look deeper. Why is that mm-hmm. and, and work on it man, . Right. Speaker 4: (33:16)Exactly. I can't a lot indulge. Speaker 2: (33:18)Don't Speaker 4: (33:18)Wanna do that. Living in that space, living in that energy. You know, I've learned, and I know you've learned too, is being very particular spec or picky aware of your audience of who you're going to for advice. Because not everybody's qualified to give the advice for what you're looking for. Speaker 2: (33:35)Amen. And Speaker 4: (33:36)Or in or in the right energetic space to, to be able to give you like a positive, you steer you in the right direction. Cuz sometimes people are gonna give you advice from their own triggers. Mm. And it's like, oh, you know, so I've learned that too, of like, okay, they're not the one to go to to ask for advice about this. You know, I'm gonna go to the person that I know could give me really good advice on this. Yes. And then even and generally Speaker 2: (34:00)In a healthy mindset. Mm-hmm. Speaker 4: (34:02), you know, and, and I am so grateful and I know I've told you this and I've told some of my other really close friends, it's just like, God, thank you. You are home to me. I can come to you and never fear you're gonna be jealous or steer me in the wrong direction or not applaud, you know, things that are deserving. Um, or make me feel like I can't trust somebody. You know, I have a good amount of friends that I can go to for that, that are like ho that feels like home. I feel safe, I feel secure to give them a call, to spend time with them in person. It feels safe and secure. And once I recognize I'm not feeling that with someone, I'm listening, I'm like, Hmm, listen to this, listen to this. But like, listen to what you're feeling right now. Uh, there's something not energetically, you know, I can see it. I can feel . I'm like, no, I can feel that. And energy is really strong. And so I've learned that, yeah. I've been right about things that I've sensed. I've, you know, and it's come to fruition that certain energies, like they don't want the best for me. So, um, now I'm trusting that and I'm leaning in more and just really appreciating that at least I have people I can trust. Like, thank God. Like, I just, it helps me not feel alone. Speaker 2: (35:14)Yes. And Speaker 4: (35:14)You in in that Speaker 2: (35:16)You are should thank yourself too. And I, I've done that with myself. Like, yes, I'm so blessed, but I also took a while to get here where, like you said, I trust myself, my intuition, I'm, I've created an environment of safe people around me and mm-hmm. , I love that you use the word safe. Often people think of safe as like, not in harm's way physically or whatever. And I think it's important to remember safety is like that feeling of home and comfort and almost predictability in a way, right? Because with narcissists you get that unpredictability. You don't know what's coming through the door, you know, or by the hour you just don't know. It's this unsettled, unsafe feeling. And I think it's so important. I love that you said that surrounding ourselves with safe friends, it's really important. And I think that's a great word to remember for people listening. Speaker 2: (36:07)If you're, you know, just starting your healing journey and you're moving forward trying to recreate your life with healthy relationships all around, tap in with yourself and does this person feel safe? Mm-hmm. A a constant safe, right? Yeah. Not just up and down. Like one day you feel like, oh yeah, they love me. Oh my God, they're protecting me. They must love me. And, and then the next day they're not. Right? Mm-hmm. , it's like consistent, safe behavior. So yes. Mm-hmm. . I love that. What do you recommend people do who are at the start of diving into and understanding navigating narcissism? Because a lot of people come in here, right? On my podcast, like, okay, I wanna learn more. Like, what, what do you recommend? Speaker 4: (36:52)Well, I'm assuming they're, they're looking into it because maybe a breakup, they're reflecting, they're healing, they're wanting to heal something. They're, maybe they're recognizing there's something they wanna change. Like you said, confidence. Yes. Because if someone doesn't feel confident in their abilities to live without the job, to live without the man, the woman mm-hmm. , you know, the family member or whatever. If you don't have that confidence, well then, yeah, you are scared to leave. Cuz you're thinking, well, what am I going to do? Exactly. So if they're at the very beginning, then work on your self-talk and work on your affirmations and work on building your self-confidence up study. Do what you need to do so you feel like, Hey, I'm valuable. I'm getting to the point where you're so confident and it's not cocky, it's just confident. Oh, and those are self up. That's Speaker 2: (37:37)Our society, man. Gosh. Mm-hmm. , you say one positive thing about yourself or you share too much, people view you as overconfident or cocky and it's like, no, guess what I've learned. And that's, I think a lot of those are unhealed people. Because I will tell you, when I really went through my healing and learned, no, I'm not saying I'm better than X, y, z this person, it's, I am just as worthy as anybody else and I am as beautiful as anybody else. Right. And even to say that out loud, I'm like, oh, someone's gonna cringe out there listening to me say I'm beautiful. Right. . But we all, I mean, we are all these things and so many of us, especially women, and I'm not gonna say it's just women, but in general in our society, we have this dynamic of we are not really supposed to have pride and, and confidence in ourselves. Speaker 2: (38:35)And I know we're working on it as a society, I see the empowerment and self-care, like we're kind of getting there, but it's, it's still not where it should be. Um, and that's something I work on with clients, right? When we start working together, it's building that confidence by doing, we, we do like kind of an evaluation, um, of what's working and what's not. And digging deep. We don't sit and wallow in all of that, but like, we start off there because we have to see, well, where are we starting from and where do we wanna get? And then working with those tools to help build the confidence, the affirmations releasing. And we've done energy work, Carol and I like with yin yoga and reiki and all sorts of stuff, releasing that negative energy and you create space for all the good stuff, you know? Speaker 2: (39:21)And it's, it's such an amazing journey. I mean, to put silver lining on a horrible situation, I'm, I'm not grateful for what I went through, but it totally created who I am. And without it, I wouldn't, I don't think I'd be thriving and able to help the women as quickly and accelerate as I can because of what I've gone through and how I've healed in my journey, you know? So mm-hmm. , and I know, you know, you've had a journey too, and you talk about thriving, you know, I love that word. Carol is man, the epitome of thriving. To watch a single mom with two amazing boys, kicking at your business. And oh, you're just such an amazing human and I'm so glad we got connected to begin with, let's say. I don't know, it was like, at least it was like a decade ago, right? Um, Speaker 4: (40:13)It was a while back. Yeah. Yeah. What a blessing. Yeah. And I remember I used to watch your, your whiny Wednesdays and I had such a, I just loved you. I never would've thought that we'd like, somehow, I don't even know how we came friends, but , Speaker 2: (40:25)I remember, I was trying to think of that the other day. I was like, it was probably something makeup, we both did makeup videos on YouTube at the time too. Speaker 4: (40:32)Yeah. It's so, and you're like so funny and so bold and also so loving and caring and supportive and it's, oh, thank God. You know, just, it's so nice to have women like you that I've been able to meet and, and like, God, thank God I had you too after that breakup. Oh my God. Like, you know, I forget when I go back and, and remember mm-hmm. Like all the phone calls, the sessions we had, I mean, we were like meeting every week. Yeah. And I was like working on things every week. And that was the first time I'd ever faced all these dramas and wounds and stuff I needed to heal. Speaker 2: (41:13)And, and the key is though, you were ready. That was rush. You were ready though. And that's, um, you know, if you, whoever's listening out there, if you're in the beginning of this journey, you have to say, am I ready to have peace? Am I ready to be truly happy? Because until you decide to be ready, it's gonna be a way bearer struggle when you surrender and say, I'm gonna do whatever I have to do now because I just can't live like this anymore. And I want peace and I want calm and I want these things. They're talking about you. You have to make the decision to say, okay, it's time, it's go time. I said that to God. I remember having a prayer, I was like, God, I am ready. Like, bring it, please. You know? Mm-hmm. , you have to really just, Speaker 4: (41:54)Yeah. Well, and my whole life changed. My, my my routine changed. Yes. You know, for the first time I actually started prioritizing meditating and facing those things and like self-care and exercise and water and like the, you know, yoga every night. Like, just, just reflecting, like doing all those things that like I didn't prioritize it before and I've always been really busy and now it's a priority. Now someone's like, oh, can you do a meeting at this time? I'm like, mm. I'm still running at that time. . Right. You know, like, no, I'm, I'm barely getting back from my workout at that time, you know? Yes. Now it's like, I'm like, no, I'm not just saying like, oh you wanna do 7:00 AM No, because at 7:00 AM I'm working out, you know? Mm-hmm. . So Speaker 2: (42:35)Yeah. There's no excuses. And that's, yeah. Look, I can vouch, I could say I'm busy all I want, but that's me. I can vouch Carol is a busy, busy woman, right? . And she creates the time and I'm all about creating the time. We waste a lot of time. And you can create that intentional time to make sure you're putting yourself as a priority in your own life. I mean, it's pretty simple. Mm-hmm. , but a lot of us don't, don't do it. Don't worry. Speaker 4: (43:01)Yeah. I wasn't, I wasn't prioritizing those things. And once I started prioritizing them and I remember you telling me like, Hey, you need to spend a night or something where you're not booking anything that day. No, but meditating and I spent the whole weekend meditating. I did a, a yoga sound bowl on like a Friday night, which was amazing. And then Saturday and Sunday I booked nothing but just meditating self-care. Like that's it. It was like, I'm just gonna do this and I'm not gonna schedule anything. Cuz like you said, I always had some appointment in the back of my head. Yeah. Like, where's this gonna end? You know, like, Speaker 2: (43:34)No, you have to give yourself, Speaker 4: (43:36)That's, I have to give myself time. And it's actually pretty exhausting doing that too. Like you, it's like, it's like recovering from like reflecting and like working on that stuff. It's very draining. It's emotionally draining and so it's not easy to go through, especially when you have a full plate. But it's doable, but so worth Speaker 2: (43:54)It. So rewarding. Speaker 4: (43:55)Right. So worth it. So rewarding. So glad I did it sucked. But yes. Speaker 2: (44:01)It's so rewarding. You, you're one, you're like the perfect client because you, you listen, take the advice and even the hard stuff, like even spending that time and when you really wanna go be running around town and doing all the things, you took the time in the space. And so you, it's great to watch you reap the rewards. You know, we could, we could talk forever and ever. I'm sure I'll have Carol on again cuz I just enjoy you so much and you're so wise and uplifting and just such a reminder of how you can go from surviving or figuring things out, navigating to thriving, you know, and it's, it's awesome to watch. So mm-hmm , where can we find you in your marketing? Geniusness? Is that a word? Um, on social media? Are you I think yes. Being on Instagram, so Speaker 4: (44:53)Of course Facebook, Instagram. I just re restructured my TikTok cuz I lost it for a little bit. So I have nothing on TikTok anymore, but I'm about to start it. So Carol Lorraine is, they can find me if you just put that there. That's all my social media is. But yeah, my business account is sizzling marketing group on Instagram. Yes. My personal account, as you know, is the Caroline in the city, uh, which is linked. If you go to that Instagram account everywhere, you know, you'll just see Carol Lorraine if you just like Google that, they'll find me on LinkedIn and Speaker 2: (45:22)Yeah. And I can link it. Yeah, I'll link it in the show notes as well. So you can find our lovely Carol if you need any marketing assistance. But also she's just so fun to watch on like, on Instagram I joked saying, I think I see on there cuz like I stalk her on there. She has such fun reels and just, she's so open and she's just awesome to follow. So go follow her regardless. And if you want to work with me, do some coaching, dig deeper and want that accountability and support, um, I will link my website. It's www.christyjade.com. There's a work with me section, but I'll also link it. Everything's always in the show notes. Um, but thank you so much for taking the time out today of your busy schedule and helping. I mean, these conversations are helpful, so thank you so much. Mm-hmm. Speaker 4: (46:12). Well, yeah, and if anybody does come from, from this podcast to my social media, leave me a comment and let me know you came from the, the podcast. That'd be helpful. Speaker 2: (46:20)Oh yeah, that's, Speaker 4: (46:21)Yeah, I mean, it's all, I love connecting and actually seeing the face or the people. Speaker 2: (46:25)Yes. I love that. Mm-hmm. . All right, well, we will be back at some point talking about something else because I just feel that in my soul. But, um, mm-hmm. , you all have a wonderful day and don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you get all the notifications and remember, you are awesome. You're amazing, and you deserve the best. All right. Love you guys. Bye. Speaker 5: (46:46)Bye.

Ep 29 | The One Narcissistic Abuse Wound That You Need to Heal NOW

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We know that Narcissists can leave some damage, but let's talk about the one that needs to get attention right now! Listen in to todays' episode for more...
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I am Christy Jade, adoring wife, adoptive mama and narcissistic abuse survivor. I now help other women who have gone through abuse (or are going through it) find confidence, power and peace.
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Transcript:
Speaker 1: (00:00)Good morning, good afternoon, or goodnight, wherever you are. Hello, I'm so glad you joined me. And today I have a special episode talking about a wound, a narcissistic wound, of course, that people don't really talk about. And maybe it's not so obvious, even though I would say a hundred percent of us have. So stay tuned. Speaker 1: (00:22)Hey, Queens, welcome to, but still she thrives. Do you wanna stop getting caught up in that wicked web of a creepy crawling narcissist? Do you find yourself up late at night replaying the abuse you put up with? I'm wondering how you can heal now. Do you wake up hoping for healthy relationships and peace only to feel totally exhausted? And mind F girl, I see you. I'm Christy. I too had to disconnect from toxic people in my life, and I wished I could undo the damage. I felt ashamed, lonely, and kind of lost. But I'm a stubborn Italian and I refused to give up. I found ways to recalibrate my mind and body more quickly than I thought and can now share them with you. In this podcast, you will find coping tools, healing methods, and confidence boosters so you can trust yourself and find peace and freedom. So shields up ladies, let's go protect our peace. Speaker 1: (01:20)We have talked about effects of narcissistic abuse. There are many, many, many of them. And in today's episode, we're gonna talk about the one that pretty much everybody has. I've had it, all my clients have it. It's something that's underlying and it's something that we have to maintain because of the level of narcissistic abuse and what it does to our mind, body, and dang soul, okay? It is chronic fatigue. When you have been exposed to narcissistic abuse, your nervous system, it gets stuck. You are stuck in that survival mode. You're always walking around on eggshells, right? You're hyper aware of everything going on around you, and you know you're listening, you're looking, your senses are always heightened in your environment to protect yourself and stay safe. I can remember back when I was going through narcissistic abuse, especially the physical abuse, just that fear of what's on the other side of the door. Speaker 1: (02:21)Do I need to protect myself? And it's just that fight flight fawn, whatever mode you go into, but you're always on. Every part of you is just always on. I mean, that sounds tiring enough. But what happens is when you are on that, you're running on adrenaline, you're running on cortisol, you're running on these stress hormones, right? So once you disconnect, once this person isn't in your daily life, once, you're not having to have that protection and that armor on so tight, there's no longer this constant dependency on stress, right? And those hormones that it actually will cause fatigue. I was kind of thinking about it in comparison. I mean, it's kind of off, but you'll get my comparison. I like analogy. So here we go. So I was comparing it to when I was like so focused, and you all can probably relate when you're so focused on studying for finals or some huge test. Speaker 1: (03:21)But let's do finals, because usually that's multiple classes. You know, it can be a couple of weeks of really preparing. Or if you're like me, a procrastinator, maybe a couple days and, but you're thrown into something, maybe pulling all nighters, putting your own self-care aside, over stuffing that brain. But imagine that times a million with trauma and abuse thrown into it and needing to stay safe during that time, which is often way more time than the time you would spend to prepare for a final, right? For a lot of us, it was years, decades of abuse that was embedded in our daily life. So that is why so many of my clients come to me after they disconnect from a narcissist, and they're like, now what? Right? We're so acclimated and our body physically is acclimated to this type of lifestyle. So here we are going, okay, now what? Speaker 1: (04:16)You literally have no idea really what to do, where to start, your body, your mind, everything's just been shaken up, flipped upside down. Sure, there may be relief, of course, but there's a whole identity of yourself that you are losing, and part of that identity is constant stress in your mind and your physical body, right? So that seems like, oh, that would be, that would be great, right? And it is great, but it's also when any big changes happen that can lead to exhaustion and just different chemicals, hormones, you know, changing and having to recalibrate. So that leads us to the what now. And that what now goes beyond one podcast episode and is what I do with my clients, help them heal, find peace, find freedom. But let's get to the basics, right? Just to start out, first of all, you need sleep, rest, your body needs rest, your mind needs rest, sleep is great. Speaker 1: (05:14)But if rest is all you can get at the moment, we're still going through healing, we're gonna still have ruminating thoughts, but rest is so, so important. Like a queen bear in winter. Okay? You're gonna be a queen bear. This is your order. You need to get that rest. Now, one week of good sleep, that's, that's not gonna do the healing. That's not everything you need to do. So this is something where if you want change, you truly want peace in your life, you want to find that calm, you wanna find that balance, you are going to have to make changes in your routines, right? So I'm not gonna overwhelm you, and we're gonna get to this in a second. We're gonna do this in like little baby bits, so stay with me here. But we're gonna get into a pattern of at least trying to be able to get sleep here and there maybe once a week if you can, sleeping in. Speaker 1: (06:00)And we'll get into how to do that because I know a lot of us live busy lives, we're parents, all of that. But the other things that we need to do, and we're gonna do these one at a time, okay? So just stay with me. I'm saying this because I know how overwhelming it is in the beginning, and this is why it's great to have support and whatever, but I'm here trying to at least give you some bits and tips that you can take with you. And they may seem simple, but I'm telling you, they will be life changing if you can implement them one by one, and the order in which you wanna do it is up to you. So nourishing your body with healthy foods. Yeah, talking about the fruits and veggies, like this is simple stuff. But sometimes when we are so overwhelmed or exhausted, it's easy to reach for the takeout or the pink sprinkled donuts. Speaker 1: (06:51)I mean, what I'm human. So really making an effort to eat healthy, taking supplements if you need to, like go get your physical girl, go see what you need in that body getting out. Nature is another thing. Having alone time and not, I mean, alone time is super important for this healing process, but also it is important to connect and kind of regain trust in people, which can take some time, right? Depending on your situation. But even getting out with new people, uplifting people. And I have episodes on that. I have some friendship episodes and you can find, but there's, and this is also actually a really great time to keep on decluttering the people who are mistreating you or dragging you down. So it's like, while we're at it, let's, let's keep on a roll here, because you are protecting your peace and odds are if you've tolerated from one person, you've tolerated from multiple people. Speaker 1: (07:45)So again, this is a one, one piece at a time journey, but that might be something for me, that was one of the first things I did was also say, okay, what other people are in my life? Maybe I can't disconnect like so black and white yet, but who do I probably need to distance from now that I realize I'm getting mistreated by more than one person and I've tolerated a type of behavior because I was raised to accept this behavior and now I'm realizing I don't like that, I don't like that feeling. I don't like to be controlled, I don't like to have to walk on eggshells. So that is also an option at this time. Again, the order of this and the frequency or speed of this is up to you and your path. It is always helpful to have someone along for the ride. Speaker 1: (08:33)Like I said, and you guys probably know if you've been listening, I had my own therapist, I had a coach, both narcissistic, knowledgeable . So I do always say that even if it's a therapist you go to, I would love you to go to someone who actually has dealt with a narcissist in their own life. Um, that's just my personal suggestion. So it's not easy, you know, disconnecting from narcissist, period. It's not easy healing, it's not easy trying to create a new support system around you, right? It's not easy. But these truly are things you have to do to heal and clear space for that peaceful, joyful life that I promise you can have. And look, this, this crap is overwhelming as it is, right? I do not wanna overwhelm you. So remember, start with one thing. What is one thing you can change in your daily life to start healing? Speaker 1: (09:31)Don't overwhelm yourself. Like what seems the easiest to you? Is it just changing your diet, drinking more water? Is it cutting out the friend who always complains? Maybe there's just a coworker that maybe you could, they're just really up in your, texting you, complaining, whatever. Maybe it's shifting that relationship. You can do things slowly and on your own timetable, but the the trick is getting closer and closer to a peaceful life. Okay? So, and maybe that is getting out in nature every day for a certain amount of time. Maybe it is asking for help from a parent of yours, maybe a friend. If you're, let's say you're a single mother and you know, all this has just happened and you're exhausted, ask somebody for help and say, can you come over so I can take a two hour nap every Saturday for a little bit, right? Speaker 1: (10:23)There are ways to ask for help. I know it's hard, but you're worth it and you do deserve it. And after you implement one thing, sparkle by sparkle, I like to call it , your first sparkle in your life. Once you've got that going a little bit and you're feeling a little better in that area, add another. So once you're getting a little more sleep, you've got a rhythm, then maybe throw a little broccoli down your ch you get my point. So it's one by one. It, it doesn't have to be so hard, doesn't have to be so heavy and you don't have to do it alone. So I am here if you would like to work with me. All my information is always in the show notes, aka a podcast description on any platform that you're listening to. It will be there. I will leave my information on how to work with me. Speaker 1: (11:08)That link, I will leave my email if you have questions or you can feel free to email me. I have a free Facebook group that's a nice support group for narcissistic abuse victims. It's a women's only group. And before I go, I want to remind you, you are beautiful. You are strong af for helping yourself get out of a toxic situation. And even if you're in it and you're listening to this and you're wanting more for yourself, that's a first step. And be proud of even that, okay? It's hard. These are very hard situations. This is not for the faint of heart. And you can do this. You can do this. All right, I will see you in the next episode. I have a special guest, my client and friend Carol Lorraine, chatting about her experience with narcissistic abuse. We have a really great conversation, so make sure to hit subscribe. You do not wanna miss this episode. Smooches and Doses.

Ep 28 | 5 Ways to STOP Obsessive Thoughts After Narcissistic Abuse

Top 3% in podcasts globally
Obsessive thoughts got ya down? Listen in on this week's episode for 5 ways to stop your ruminating thoughts after narcissistic abuse
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And if you just wanna peek around and find out more about me and my work..check out my website! It's FUN AND SPARKLY ;) 
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Want to drop me a line or have a question? Email me anytime!
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Let's connect on social media!
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After abuse we need SIMPLE. I created a planner for busy women just like you to navigate your days easier: https://christyjade.podia.com/shethrivesplanner 
I am Christy Jade, adoring wife, adoptive mama and narcissistic abuse survivor. I now help other women who have gone through abuse (or are going through it) find confidence, power and peace.
DOMESTIC ABUSE HOTLINE : 800-799-7233
 
TRANSCRIPT:
Speaker 1: (00:00)Oh my Queens. This one's a hard one. These obsessive thoughts. I have so many clients come to me with this. I went through this. I remember not being able to concentrate at work. Literally having to go to the bathroom and be like, okay, get it together. Focus, because of my narcissistic situation inside of it. And even after we disconnected, it almost became worse in a different way, even though I was actually the one who broke it off with the narcissist. So cozy up, get a little drink, let's hang out. Let's talk about how to stop these obsessive thoughts, how to help stop them. We can't stop them immediately right away, but there are a lot of ways to do that. Also, the podcast episode before this is more about why we have these obsessive thoughts, especially after a narcissistic, abusive situation. So check that out either now or, or save it and listen to it later. Stay tuned for five glorious ways to help us with these obsessive thoughts. Speaker 1: (01:06)Hey, Queens, welcome to, but still she thrives. Do you wanna stop getting caught up in that wicked web of a creepy crawling narcissist? Do you find yourself up late at night replaying the abuse you put up with and wondering how you can heal now? Do you wake up hoping for healthy relationships and peace only to feel totally exhausted and mind effed? Girl, I see you. I'm Christy. I too had to disconnect from toxic people in my life, and I wished I could undo the damage I felt ashamed, lonely, and kind of lost. But I'm a stubborn Italian and I refuse to give up. I found ways to recalibrate my mind and body more quickly than I thought and can now share them with you. In this podcast, you'll find coping tools, healing methods, and confidence boosters so you can trust yourself and find peace and freedom. So, shields up ladies, let's go protect our peace. Speaker 1: (02:03)All right? So first of all, remember, give yourself grace and patience with this process. Nothing is overnight, but it is possible to undo this damage and find peace and freedom from narcissistic abuse. So the first thing I'm gonna say, and this is one that helped me earlier on in the journey, especially when I had to just get out of my head immediately, and that is changing your environment. And it sounds simple, but you've gotta stir up that motivation to do it. First of all, you can't do it without doing it, but change your environment. I would literally go outside, like I said, even if I was at work, if I couldn't get outta my head, I would be like, all right. Hmm. Taking a little elevator ride down to the first floor and going outside, just shaking it off, saying, you know, saying hi to people, even in the lobby of my office, whatever, kind of distracted my brain a little bit to break the the cycle. Speaker 1: (02:59)So changing your actual environment, especially if you have time, you can go and hang out in nature. You can go for a run, pick up the phone, call a friend. Don't talk about the narc though. You've gotta make decisions and choices too, right? So change your environment and change. Change the thoughts, right? Like decide to talk about something else. If you are going to call someone or watch a funny show, like I said, get out, go to a store. I feel like it's a lot easier to get into our heads and really spiral down if we are sitting in our home alone in a quiet space, right? And over time we will have to find other coping mechanisms. But in the very beginning, that was something super helpful and it's something I still use today. I mean, in general with life stresses, that is one of my go-to things, is to get outside, do something healthier than sitting in my little brain full of crazy thoughts. Speaker 1: (03:58)Okay, number two, practicing mindfulness. If you've been following me, you know, I'm a big fan for a reason of all the meditation, yin yoga specifically. Um, it's a practice that involves paying attention to the present moment, right? So by focusing on the present moment, you may be able to reduce the power of those intrusive thoughts related to the past abuse or current abuse. You may be listening to this if you are currently in this situation as well. So I'm trying to address everybody. Um, mindfulness practices can include the meditation, deep breathing, you know, breath work and yoga. Number three is using grounding techniques. So these can help you feel more connected again to the present moment and less overwhelmed by those thoughts. Some of these include breath work, right? It's the same sort of thing. It's it's mindfulness, but it also is a physical activity that's going to ground you focusing on physical sensations. Speaker 1: (05:01)And I do this and talk about this with my clients. I even do this with my eight year old daughter. When she's a little, she gets a little anxiety, especially, she's kind of a perfectionist. Anybody relate, anyone have perfectionism or kids that have perfectionism? Um, so sometimes with her schoolwork, I mean literally if she gets below a 90%, she, she gets a little anxious. So in the moment we do the sensory activities, which is like I do something like, okay, find something, a red something that's the color red in the room. And then I want you to shut your eyes and smell. Is there any smell you can pick up? Then we do something with touch, maybe like find a very soft texture in the room or maybe find a, you know, more rough texture. Um, then one of my favorites is because there's always some sort of noise, even if it's some sort of room noise or a fan or birds chirping, shutting your eyes. Speaker 1: (06:02)And I like to say find two sounds cuz there's usually more than one. And you can do this and you can repeat this and change it. You know, you can then look for something the color teal, like make it a little tricky. Um, but that is a grounding technique that I really like, um, for any situation. But it does help you get out of that ruminating thought process as well. Number four, self care. If you know me, can you hear my snap? Yes, I'm snapping with excitement. I love self-care, but taking care of yourself can help you feel more empowered and less overwhelmed by the intrusive thoughts. So activities of self-care can include exercise. This is an amazing one. This is why running and for me it's dancing. I love dance. Um, it's so therapeutic. You literally are forced to kind of get outta your mind and be paying attention to what you're doing. Speaker 1: (07:02)It's hard to think as deeply and ruminating while you are engaged in physical activity. So that's a huge one for me. Again, spending time in nature is taking care of yourself, like getting that sitting in gratitude in nature too, right? Like gratitude is so important in self-care because, and I, and I do practices not just what I'm grateful for and I pray I'm a big God lady. Um, I pray and thank God, but I also practice gratitude for the things I have done. So it could be, what are five things you're proud of this week, right? So that's your homework. I'm sticking homework in today. I want you to email me and my email's always in the show notes, but it's fierce mama m a m a c gmail.com. I want you to just email me just two. We're gonna start easy cuz I know this is hard when you're coming out of abuse, I want you to say two things. Speaker 1: (07:59)You're grateful for that you did, you accomplished your wins. Okay? So email me that this week. Um, so definitely the gratitude, sitting in nature and engaging in any hobbies you enjoy. What's something maybe you couldn't do anymore? Maybe you were in a narcissistic situation where you were being controlled or you were having to live for somebody else. You forgot who the hell you were. We're gonna remind you. That's what I'm here for. I'm here for you 2.0, that's my jam, right? Ask any of my clients. Um, we want that 2.0 you that's like, yes, I am a queen, I know I'm a queen. Even if you don't feel like that right now, you are going to, if you work with me, oh, you're gonna feel like a queen lady. And what, where did you lose yourself? What ha what haven't you done that you loved to do years ago? Speaker 1: (08:50)Or maybe just always thought, God, I would love to paint or I would love to knit, or I would love to cook like more, you know, from scratch or bake more, whatever it is. There's so many freaking hobbies, photography and there's group courses where you can meet people. So that's another really good way to nourish and self care. So think about is there a class you can sign up for now that it's just you and you get to decide to live for just you, you don't have to worry about someone else and walking on eggshells, what can you do? And despite, maybe it wasn't a romantic situation or one that had that much control, maybe it was a sibling or a parent that you didn't live with, but just the dynamic of growing up with that, even in your childhood, you have a different way about you where you can develop people pleasing mentality, right? Speaker 1: (09:49)So let's please ourselves. Okay, that's a whole other episode. that came out wrong. No, but you know what I mean. What can you do for you now? So also this week try to think about what, what hobby can you pick up? Maybe you can join a class. I've gotten emails recently, uh, multiple people saying I inspired them to start doing more for themselves. And that makes me so happy. Keep it up. What can you do for you? Sign up for a yoga class. Sign up for a dance class. I'm gonna be starting in end of June. I am going to be doing a hip hop dance class that actually has a performance at the end of the session. Do you know how queen? I feel , I'm a queen. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. I've done hip hop dance since I was 14 and there were years I did not do that. Speaker 1: (10:43)And now I get to get back to it and I am so excited. So yes, so make that part of your to-do list this week. Um, find something where you can really self-care and that includes finding something that you have lost or you never had but have been interested in doing. All right, number five, uh, seek support. I would not be here today without the support of somebody who went through narcissistic abuse. I repeat again, I don't care if it's a therapist, I don't care if it's a life coach like yours truly, or a support group. Make sure it is somebody who has gone through it. I cannot emphasize that enough. I first went to a therapist that said they knew about narcissistic abuse. I was so excited. I said, oh good. I don't know. I don't think everyone knows about it. Uh, we were on session one and it was horrendous. Speaker 1: (11:48)It just, it was not a match. And I said, have you been through narcissistic abuse? And he said, no, but I've studied it. And I said, well, I think you need to study it more. Which I mean, probably wasn't the best answer, but I'm feisty Christy, what can I say? Um, I was like, there needs to be a little more studying there because what he actually recommended for me was detrimental. And I knew that I'm very self-aware. I, I dig a lot, I research a lot and I knew what he was telling me to do was not enough and could even be detrimental. So I encourage you to find someone who is familiar but not just familiar, but has gone through this type of abuse. Specifically. I, that being said, in therapy you can do cognitive behavioral therapy and emdr, which stands for eye movement, desensitation and reprocessing. Speaker 1: (12:40)So those are successful things that you can do through therapy. Again, I do suggest doing them with someone who is very familiar with an narcissistic abuse and has experienced themselves. Or some of my, actually a lot of my clients are doing therapy like that and then have me wor are working with me to kind of make up for what their therapist isn't as experienced in. So the therapist might have that emdr, which they can do and they know which, um, thoughts to help work through. But then as far as the narcissistic abuse, specifically, my clients will be working with me to work through that stuff, right? And I do tapping and other, other therapies that can also help people through rewiring those thoughts. So if you do want to truly accelerate your healing path, this is my specialty, I'm running a half off coaching for the month of May. Speaker 1: (13:36)If you sign up in May, that means you are grandfathered into this pricing for the, you know, if you buy a package of one month, three months, six months, whatever a year to party it up with me, whatever it is, you are grandfathered into half off of that price, which is, I have not done that before and I'm really excited I'm here for it, but I am only doing it for two clients because just I, I do have to profit in my business. So this is really, really a good value. Um, and I put a lot into my coaching. You can ask any of my clients. I have testimonials. Um, I'm in the weeds with you. I am in there and in between sessions we do check-ins and I really, really care. And you are not just a number to me. You are a person and I want you to succeed. Speaker 1: (14:23)So I'm in it, I'm really, really in it. So you're gonna get a lot of value. So you can sign up in my show notes, there will be a link there, um, to schedule your first call. And don't forget, I also have an epic free meditation if you have not got it. It is a four minute mood boosting meditation you are going to love that is in the show notes as well. So I would love to work with you though. Um, any questions, always feel free to email me and I can't wait to help you find peace. You deserve it. So remember again that this healing is a process. It's gonna take time, but be patient kind to yourself as you work through this experience. Remember, you are amazing. You are smart as hell, and you deserve to have a calm and joyful mind. So don't forget to subscribe. See you in the next episode.

Ep 27 | Having Obsessive Thoughts About a Narcissist? 4 Reasons You Can’t Stop

*Top 3% in podcasts globally
Do you have obsessive thoughts about a narcissist in your life? In today's episode I share 4 reasons you can't stop thinking about them or the situation. 
Work with me for onlly $97 for the month of May!
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EPISODES MENTIONED:
What is GASLIGHTING? (ep 23)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-23-what-is-gaslighting-the-narcissists-favorite-8/id1662241353?i=1000610540022
The Cycle of Abuse: (ep 6)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-6-the-cycle-of-abuse-and-how-to-avoid/id1662241353?i=1000596278747
WORK WITH ME:
https://www.christyjade.com/transformational-coaching
Have trouble setting boundaries in your life?
Grab my E-Course here:
https://christyjade.podia.com/boundariescourse
And if you just wanna peek around and find out more about me and my work..check out my website! It's FUN AND SPARKLY ;) 
https://www.christyjade.com/
Want to drop me a line or have a question? Email me anytime!
fiercemamac@gmail.com  
Let's connect on social media!
https://www.instagram.com/fiercechristyjade/
https://www.tiktok.com/@fiercemamachristy
After abuse we need SIMPLE. I created a planner for busy women just like you to navigate your days easier: https://christyjade.podia.com/shethrivesplanner 
I am Christy Jade, adoring wife, adoptive mama and narcissistic abuse survivor. I now help other women who have gone through abuse (or are going through it) find confidence, power and peace.
DOMESTIC ABUSE HOTLINE : 800-799-7233
 
TRANSCRIPT
Speaker 1: (00:00)Welcome to, but still she thrives. On today's episode, we are going to talk about all of those nasty, annoying sleep, disturbing stomach ache, causing obsessive thoughts we have over the narcs in our lives. Why can't we stop thinking about them? Stay tuned. Speaker 1: (00:19)Hey, Queens, welcome to, but still she thrives. Do you wanna stop getting caught up in that wicked web of a creepy crawling narcissist and you find yourself up late at night replaying the abuse you put up with and wondering how you can heal Now? Do you wake up hoping for healthy relationships and peace only to feel totally exhausted and mind effed? Girl, I see you. I'm Christy. I too had to disconnect from toxic people in my life and I wished I could undo the damage. I felt ashamed, lonely, and kind of lost. But I'm a stubborn Italian and I refused to give up. I found ways to recalibrate my mind and body more quickly than I thought and can now share them with you. In this podcast, you will find coping tools, healing methods, and confidence boosters so you can trust yourself and find peace and freedom. So, shields up ladies, let's go protect our peace. Speaker 1: (01:17)So I have had more than five clients recently talk about how disruptive the thoughts are, even after disconnection, even when you're out of the relationship. What is going on that I'm still obsessing, I'm still thinking about whether it's the narcissist, the relationship, what they did wrong. There are all of these obsessive thoughts. So let's dive into the why today, and then we're also gonna talk about how to help those thoughts in the next episode. So narcissists tend to target empaths and people who are more thoughtful by nature, right? They're easier targets, lucky us. Woo. So as those types of personalities, we tend to overthink as it is, then you throw in a manipulative narcissist who knows how to create a co-dependent situation with us. If and when we get strong enough to finally get out, which congratulations, by the way, our brain will still be stuck there for a while. Speaker 1: (02:19)And this is normal. This is normal in our situation, okay? For us who we are, and this situation, it's normal. Our brains really want to fix any problem. A lot of us can be people pleasers or we're so trained to please a certain person that our brain wants to fix any problem immediately because we are set up where we feel like, especially in narcissistic, abusive situations, if we don't fix the problem, it's gonna become a bigger problem. We are going to get emotionally or physically abused, right? This is how our brain is set up. So it is very normal for us to want to fix all the problems. So if we can't figure something out, our brain is going to ruminate, ruminate, ruminate. And with narcissist, it's usually a situation that cannot be fixed without disconnecting from them entirely, right? So if you are in the situation, it's even harder because truly living with a narc, you're going to always have these problems. Speaker 1: (03:21)They're always going to to create this dynamic. When you are disconnected, that's great, that's a huge step forward. But there still is work to be done because your brain is set up this way. So it's still trying to problem solve all the time, and it's trying to figure things out. But why do narcissists tend to make the obsession unbearable like it is? Because they've set up this codependent situation. This means they're already creating a relationship with us that is obsessive by nature. They confuse us, which leads us to having to spend more time trying to figure them out, trying to figure our relationship out or our, you know, past relationship with them out, like what just happened. That's a very common thing to feel when you get on the other side. You are like, what just happened to my life, right? Trying to figure out what is wrong with us. Speaker 1: (04:13)By the way, it's nothing. You're a fly queen, okay? We'll get there. That's another episode. Trying to figure out if we should stay or go or why we didn't leave earlier, or how it affects us and has damaged us or our children, right? There's a lot of figuring out. So they are so strategic, they know exactly how to make sure they stay on our mind and have control of us and our minds, even when we leave, even when we are apart. So they're still in there. The longer you've been with a narcissist, the harder it may feel to get out of these thoughts. But girl, I promise it is possible. Okay? So keep that hope up. All right. Now let's dive into how they do this specifically. So, so if you've been doing your research, you may know what gaslighting is. I have a whole episode on it. Speaker 1: (05:01)You may want, if you don't know what it is, you may want to also listen to that episode. I think it's episode 23. I will put that in my show notes. If you're like, what are show notes, Christy. , just go to wherever, whatever platform you're playing this on, right underneath, if you click, there should be information about each and every episode that has all my information, how to contact me, any pertinent information that I talk about during the episode, like this, you know, I'm talking about another episode you may want to reference. All of that good stuff is in every single episode's, show notes, they're all, they all have their own separate show note page on whatever, um, platform you are on. Okay? So back to gaslighting. So if you don't know what gaslighting is it, go watch that episode. But gaslighting is something they do that it really makes us feel crazy and wonder if we are in the wrong and one makes us wonder, are we causing the problem? Speaker 1: (05:59)So this leads to more obsessive thoughts to try to figure these things out. They also give us the silent treatment. This is something, ooh, they love a good silent treatment to control you when they're not communicating. This leads us to trying to get into their heads to figure out what they are thinking. Again, obsessive thoughts and all a part of their big nasty plan to keep control over our minds and our hearts, which it's worked. But if you're out, you broke through again, congrats. But these are things that have created the dynamic. So if you're wondering, how did I get like this? Why am I so obsessed? There's all of these parts play a part into it. Narcissists also play hot and cold games. We call it the yo-Yo, right? They are known for sucking you in, in the beginning with making you feel special, making you feel so alive and like you're the best thing since sliced bread or pink sprinkled donuts. Speaker 1: (06:59)But I'm, I'm a little biased. As soon as you get sucked in, they will start yo-yoing, you creating conflict, being abusive, lying, gas, lighting, cheating, name calling. Maybe the physical abuse starts earlier on it, it usually kind of graduates to getting worse. But even in that very first start of the cycle, right? There's a cycle of abuse where, and I have an episode on that I will link, um, but it starts out all the, like, this is your dream life and it's just this honeymoon, but it's beyond honeymoon usually it's usually a little more, um, they're laying it on a little thicker, really whining and dining and making you feel special and the complimenting all that. Then the yo-yo starts in where they start mistreating you, but you are already kind of sucked in and then it, it's just the cycle that continues, right? They suck you in, they spit you out, they suck you in, they spit you out and spit you out. Speaker 1: (07:54)Meaning the abuse, the lying, the shaming, all of the above, right? So imagine what your brain goes through, right? They're creating this conflict and then making it up to you. And they're princes charming. So they'll buy gifts, make promises, give those compliments. That is the cycle. And that my queens will enhance those obsessive thoughts because it's so confusing and it's involving your heart and your mind and your spirit. It's involving every single part of you creating this dynamic. So of course, of course this is going to be very difficult once you get out. So there are reasons we can get so obsessive in general, even after we have disconnected. That's why it can be so hard for us to escape. And often we can get sucked back in to the unhealthy situation a lot easier with them than someone else who does not create this codependent dynamic, right? Speaker 1: (08:52)A healthier person, let's say when you have a breakup with a healthy individual, it can be hard, but narcissists will make it a thousand times harder. And that dynamic we already have will create it to be more challenging. But again, that doesn't mean we can't do it. I've done it and have helped many clients through this. It is possible. It is possible. And if you would like to work one-on-one with me to get support that is needed on a journey like this, I am offering half off my coaching for the month of May. You'll, so you'll be grandfathered into this pricing for the remainder of your package. So whether you sign up for a month, three months, six months, a year of this mamma, Jamma, Christy, whatever it is, you will be grandfathered in to this pricing that will go up. So I only have two more spots for clients because this summer I am going to take it down a notch so I can enjoy this summer with my daughter. Speaker 1: (09:51)So I will be having, taking on less clients. So I have two more spots open. So go check the show notes for that link to sign up. It will give you the, the app pricing cuz you're a queen. And I just, I can't wait to help more women find peace. Like this is my jam. I'm so excited. So don't forget. Also, I have a free, amazing four minute meditation for you that is in the show notes. That's really cool. So go check that out. It's like a morning mood boost and it's literally four minutes. Everyone has four minutes in the morning, everyone, even the president of the United States. Do you think he wants my mood boost? Should I send him, should I send him my freebie ? Okay, so remember that healing from abuse is a process and it may take time to reduce the intensity of the obsessive thoughts. Speaker 1: (10:41)So be patient and kind to yourself. There's no magic pill, it's gonna do it overnight. But next episode, I will have a few techniques on how I have worked through this in my life and how my clients work through theirs. And we all use different tools. There's a bunch of tools you get to, you know, kind of customize how you want to do it, but there are a lot of tools to work through it and they are successful. So be patient and hopeful. . And remember, you are beautiful. I mean like Superfly, and you are worthy of uplifting and peaceful thoughts. So let's break this cycle. I'll see you in the next episode. Don't forget to subscribe so you get notification for it. Have a wonderful day.