1. It takes a hell of a long time to heal because you can’t avoid the aftermath of dating a narcissist. It’s impossible to avoid the pain, and you know it, so you accept it.
2. Your self-worth goes down the drain. You feel completely lost. After a narcissist is done with you, you feel simply put, like a piece of shit—unable to continue your life, unable to recognize yourself.
3. Before he walked into your life, you were a normal girl, but after he is done with you, you lose your dignity; you lose your sense of who you once were.
4. You try to hide your pain. You try to hide the fact that anything in this world touches you, but you fail every time. You’re extremely vulnerable, and you can’t hide it.
5. You feel invisible because he convinced you that you were a nobody.
6. Your eyes will tell the truth about how you feel. You can put on a fake smile, but your eyes are filled with sorrow.
7. You don’t smile anymore because you want to but because you have to. You know people are worried about you, so you smile to ease them. You haven’t smiled sincerely for a long time. And that is just a price you have to pay for dealing with a narcissist.
8. You are guarded. You don’t want to talk about what happened. Building emotional walls around yourself is the only thing you can do to feel safe. You need protection, and for now, you’re the only person who can do that.
9. Dating a narcissist doesn’t come without a cost. You are depressed and anxious all the time, and you weren’t like that at the beginning. That is a side-effect you get from being in a toxic relationship.
10. You can’t go through the healing process alone. Only the most sincere friends will stick around through that period. Only people who genuinely care about you are going to be your endless support. Accept their help; it will be easier.
11. You don’t believe in the good in people anymore. Because you’ve fallen into his trap, you don’t trust anyone. The only thing you see when you look around is people who want to hurt you. The only thing you see is him, wherever you go.
11. You don’t need to be judged. You know you’ve made a mistake. All you need now is understanding and patience. The pain won’t just go away, and anyone who says, ”Get it over with already!” has no idea what you’re going through.
12. You still can’t swallow what happened to you. You still don’t believe it. It all seems like a bad dream from which you’re going to wake up any minute now.
13. You need approval. You need encouragement. It’s hard to snap out of the reality that you’ve lived in for so long. It’s hard not to wait for something bad to happen. You’ve lived your life that way, and it’s impossible to hit the reset button within just a day or two.
14. You don’t trust people. The person you were connected the most with is the person who failed you the most. Every time you meet someone new, you’re doubtful. Every time someone does something nice for you, you wait for the price you have to pay.
15. At the moment, you don’t know how to love. You’re bruised, and love is something so distant to what you know. You’re afraid to like anyone, let alone to actually feel love.
16. You try to avoid emotional suffering, so you apologize all the time. You’re sorry even when you don’t have to be sorry. When dating a narcissist, that was all you had to say to save yourself from being punished. You had to be the bad guy. You’re apologizing for the smallest thing because you’re still so insecure.
17. You hide your feelings because you’re scared you’re going to pay a price for feeling something. The more you showed your feelings in your relationship with a narcissist, the worse he treated you.
18. You’re scared to of coming across as clingy, dependent or overly emotional. So you choose to take the easier road, and you bottle your feelings up. You keep everything to yourself.
19. One day, you’ll want to be left alone with your thoughts, and the next day, that lonesomeness will suffocate you. Your mood will switch within hours.
20. You need someone to be there for you. Someone to convince you’re going to be fine. You are a strong woman, at least you were once, but for now, you need someone to protect you until you get back on your feet. Until you get back your old self.
21. You need someone to actually keep the promises they’ve told you. You need someone who’ll finally put you first after you’ve been dwelling at the bottom for so long. You need to be important; you need to feel alive.
22. Don’t be scared. There is a good girl hiding beneath that scared face. There is a girl who can love with all of her heart. But, she’s scared now. Help her by showing that all bad things pass in the end. It just takes time. A lot of time.
