Friday, December 30, 2011

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all of you out there in weblong land and hope your new year is narcissist, psychopath and sociopath free!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Pity Play

Beware of the pity play. Sociopaths (narcissists) universally use the pity play for attention. It's the number #1 characteristic of the disorder, and most (if not all) use it to manipulate and dupe people into giving them the attention they so desperately need. Martha Stout, author of "The Sociopath Next Door" says in her book:

"the best clue, of all things, is the pity play. The most reliable sign, the most universal behavior of unscrupulous people is not directed at our fearfulness. It is, preversely, an appeal to our sympathy."


She goes on to state that "sociopaths have no regard for social contract but they do know how to use it to their advantage. When deciding whom to trust, bear in mind that the combination of consistently bad behavior or egregious inadequate behavior with frequent plays for your pity is as close to a warning mark on a conscienceless person's forehead as you will ever be given."

Emphasis mine.

I know Taz uses the pity play perfectly. Always has. He wants everyone to feel sorry for him for dilemmas he brought on himself. He does these things FOR the pity. It's ridiculous but such is the life of a narcissist.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Facebook is a Narcissist's dream

After almost two years, the N is still ranting and raving on FB.  He has hundreds of "friends" and he treats them to constant ranting about me and his kids - even though he's re-married.  My lovely D stated last night "I can't believe he's still ranting about the same thing two years later."  Oh, I can believe that.  But, I no longer care what he says about me.  In fact, I'm glad he does still rant about me because it just shows how crazy he is.  He's a newlywed but ranting about the ex-wife is psychotic.  He is psychotic.  I just wish he'd stop the ranting about my kids.  They don't deserve that. 

I was told by a neighbor a couple of days ago that he saw the tasmanian narcissist and that he has been hanging out a a house a few houses down from me.  The guy that lives there can't figure out why Taz is coming over because they weren't friends when he lived with me - three houses down from him.  I'm not surprised at all, but the boldness and shamelessness of Taz still shocks me on ocassion.  He looks like a crazy stalker. 

One thing I have learned about dealing with a narcissist is that they NEVER change.  In fact, they often get worse with age.  It's true of the Taz.  I hope he finds a new focus soon.   It won't be long until the new marriage falls apart - it's guaranteed.  I just hope he turns his focus to smearing her and then leave my kids alone.

Their existance is very sad.  I can't imagine living in that mindset.  It's crazy.  It's unhealthy. 

Friday, September 9, 2011

Residual Effects

My son hasn't seen his narcissistic father in over a year and only once in two years.  My daugher hasn't seen him at all in two years.   Neither desires to see their self-absorbed and evil father.   I can't say that I blame them.  But, I hope that time will heal my kids, especially my son who seems to be more angry and/or hurt.  I don't think it would be healthy for him to try to have a relationship with a narcissist for a number of reasons, so I hope his decision to go "no contact" on his father brings him some healing and peace.  I don't expect anything out of an N, other than complete self-absorpotion, however it is so disheartening to know that someone could be so callous and not be affected by having no relationship or contact with his own kids.  It would eat me up inside if I wasn't a part of their lives.  Tasmanian has a new family so he isn't concerned at all about his former family.  We've been replaced.  I'm learing to accept that but to think of it in those terms is so sad, so sickening.  I can't imagine going through life so shallow that not one person, even my own flesh and blood, having no meaning to me.  I can't even fathom that. 

The life of a narcissist is empty.  It's a constant search to secure attention.  It must be exhausting.

I hope my son learns to live at peace with his feelings and decisions regarding his father.  I can only pray that he does.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Been away...

I've been away awhile traveling for my job and it's been helpful.  I am feeling much, much better since the last post.  I am still struggling at times but my last post must have been on a really bad day.  I am grateful to God for getting me through, loving me even when I'm unlovable, forgiving me continuously even when I make my pain and suffering an idol in my life and can focus on nothing but that.  God is good. 

I do feel very sad for my son.  He's 19 and has not been himself in a very long time.  He has so much animosity built up in him toward his dad and I can't get him to go speak to someone.  He just says that he doesn't want to talk about his father and never wants to see him again.  My son is fighting depression.  I recognize the symptoms and the signs because I too suffer from it.  I have to push him to do the things he must do - such as go to school and work.  He's such a good kid in that he doesn't get in trouble, doesn't hang out with troublemaking friends, doesn't drink, smoke or do drugs.  He basically likes to stay home and be a gamer.  In moderation its fine, but not to the extent he's been doing this lately.  It just isn't healthy and so I have to push him.  I hate having to do it. 

My narcissistic ex husband has used facebook in an evil way.  Since both my son and daughter have him blocked, he is seeking to punish them for making him look bad.   I know a number of people have asked him why he doesn't even have his own kids as facebook friends since he seems to live and die by facebook (for all the attention!!).  He's enraged that they have him blocked.  He is seeking to punish them by adding all of their friends (people he barely knows or doesn't know at all) and then he proceeds to leave passive-agressive comments to my kids' friends to get at his own kids.  He has said the most awful things about my kids to their friends.  It's a cry for attention and it's punishment.  I feel bad for them because they can block him all they want, but how does one tell everyone on facebook not to add him or block him?  People wouldn't understand.  It's frustrating and hurtful to them and it's an ongoing thing.  I've been praying for both of my kids - but especially my son.

I've learned that recovering from the total destruction that is a narcissist's life is a very long road.  We aren't going to be magically better within days, weeks or months.  Sometimes recovery and healing takes years.   It's especially bothersome for people (who have no idea what a narcissist is and don't know the damage they do) say to you "just get over it" or "why are you still focused on him" or "move on already!"  My therapist says these same people unknowingly are further victimizing us survivors because they are invalidating what we've been through and our pain.  Invalidation is the mantra of a narcissist - so most of us come out of an N relationship where the N constantly invalidated us, our feelings, our needs.  So, when others invalidate us it's heartbreaking and frustrating.  But, how do you explain that?  You can't.  So, to anyone out there suffering the same thing.....don't let anyone set a "time line" for your healing for you.  You don't have to heal at their pace.  As long as you are striving for improvement, for healing then that's all that matters.

I hope others get some comfort from this page or validation for what you've lived with or through.  It isn't our job to justify or defend ourselves but we do owe it to ourselves to heal and to never take abuse lightly or tolerate it any longer. 

Peace

Monday, July 25, 2011

I feel like a puzzle piece

I feel like a puzzle piece that doesn't fit anywhere.  My life is all about getting through today.  I have no long range plans.  I don't even know how I'll get through today, let alone tomorrow.  I am very lonely.  I have no friends.  I have no family other than my kids who are both adults.  My phone can go days or weeks without ringing or without getting a text from someone.  I will not share my misery, my loneliness, my depression with my kids.  I don't want them to feel bad for me or to parentify them and making them feel like they have to worry about me or feel guilty for leaving home.  They are adults, they should be living their lives without worrying about me.  I'm so sad every single day - still.   I am a caregiver.  That is what I do best.  I take care of others around me and enjoy it.  I have no one to care for.  I feel like my only worth is a paycheck.  People still depend on me financially.   My few friends that I did have probably don't want to get in the middle between me and the tasmanian narcissist or they truly do not care because they've all disappeared and I haven't heard from them in about two years after trying to get a hold of them.  Most people are so wrapped up in their own lives.  All of the acquaintances or friends from my old church, has either sided with the narcissist or just don't want to get involved.  THAT has hurt me more than anything.  My kids and I needed their support more than anyone.  I wanted to feel that those fellow soldiers in Christ were concerned with standing up for righteousness, calling out sin and taking a stand against it, but they haven't.  They do know what my ex is all about.  They've witnessed it and continue to witness the evil, the disfunction, the selfishness and ungodliness on his daily cry for attention on facebook.  Many have admitted that they know he isn't a believer, yet they still refuse to offer support to those that need it - especially to my kids.  Their indifference is sin.  Their willingness to tolerate it just to keep the peace is sin.  They are helping to usher my ex into hell by not condeming him, not calling him out on his sin, by refusing to extend the hand of fellowship to someone in such blatant sin.  The church has refused to do that.  The church did not want to have to face it so they were more than happy when my kids and I left the church.  We were disrupting their lives.   There is no room for Godliness, no room for righteousness in being politically correct.

So, it is very lonely to have no support.  It is hard to cope.  I sounds like a pity party but I don't intend it to turn into that.  I simply have no one that has stood with me or stood up for me and my kids in this horribly abusive situation.  They want to pretend we don't exist - it's easier for them to do that.  I only hope none of these people find themselves in my situation.  I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy.   It's heartbreaking. 

So, I go through the days everyday saddened, lonely, plagued by the "what ifs" or "what did I do wrong?".  It truly pains me and causes my stomach to hurt when I see happy families.  It hurts me to hear others complain about their spouse when the matter is so trivial or non-existant.  People everywhere fail to appreciate what they have.  I have stopped going to bible study because all of the problems of the women in the group are just plain dumb.  I know it's not the fault of the women if they only have small problems.  They are truly blessed and they don't know it.   It hurts me because I'd give anything to have a spouse to go to with problems, to share a life with, to be able to count on if you need a ride or help or support.  When they complain about their loving spouse because he fails to pick up his socks.....it's trivial.  If only they knew what it is like to have a spouse abuse you, smear you, destroy you and then blame you for his behavior, maybe they wouldn't complain about the little things.  Maybe they would take an inventory of their life and see how well they have it.

I cannot fault people for their happy lives, for their trivial problems.  They are blessed to have them.  It is hard for me to sit and listen to it and not be so saddened, loney and frustrated.  It certainly isn't their fault that I feel this way.  I just withdraw.  

The tasmanian narcissist is re-married and bragging about it.  I know she'll get the same treatment I received.  I know she hasn't seen his behavior yet.  I know that he is truly miserable inside and it's all an act.  I get all of that.  But, it still pains me that he has companionship.  He has someone around him all of the time.  I'm left alone.  As always.   We were created by a loving God to have fellowship.  To be relational.  To share our lives with someone, to complete us.  You truly do not know how damaging it is to have this built in need for relationship and not have it.   I feel empty.

I won't admit this to a single person but I truly wish every single day that I would die today.  I honestly have no desire to live.  It would be an act of mercy for me to die today and to see my savior.  I have no will to live.  I won't off my self.  I believe that only God should take a live, because he gave it to us in the first place, but I don't want to live in this life anymore.  The pain continues every single day.  I've wanted to die for a very long time.  Years.  I don't understand why I'm still here.  My existance benefits no one, not even God.  My paycheck pays some of my kids bills, but that is just about my only worth.   I am doing nothing here to serve my creator.  I wish I did, but I don't.  Why am I still here?

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The other woman

The tasmanian narcissist has moved on to another woman.  He was with her even before I filed for divorce.  He proposed to her within days of the divorce being final.  He is a typical narcissist.  Can't be alone, can't take care of self, can't truly set down roots.  I do not seek out information on him, I do not look at his facebook page, I do not have any contact with him.  However, at times information gets passed to me quicker than I can say "NO! Don't tell me".   Anyway, he's already re-married.  This does give me some relief, but I still feel the pain of this quick re-marriage.  I know whole heartedly that he doesn't love her anymore than he loved me - which means he has no love for her, either.  He needed a place to live and the easiest way to get that is to get married to the woman, any woman, who had her own place.  The tasmanian narcissist not only made a mess of my life and my kids' lives, but he made a complete mess of his own life.  He went from a middle-class suburb of tree lined streets and friendly neighbors to living in his car because he wanted people to feel sorry for him.  He went from having two very good and God fearing kids to having no relationship at all with his kids.  They have him blocked from all access to them.  He went from a marriage where he was expected to do nothing other than be my companion to living a life of couch jumping chaos.  In the midst of our marriage I was the breadwinner, he didn't even have to work.  I financed all of his sports and hobbies.  I financed his 4 vacations per year without his family.  Even when he did work, he spent his paychecks on himself and his activities.  He didn't cook, didn't clean, didn't do chores around the house, he didn't do anything other than serve himself at the expense of everyone else.   We had no expectations on him at all other than to be a companion to me, a father to his kids and be accountable to God.  He couldn't do that.  He would rather throw it all away, become homeless with no job and no dignity just so he could have the sympathy of others.  He wanted to be able to be on facebook all day - working his virtual farm at farmville - and didn't want to be bothered by me when I asked him to not humiliate me on facebook everyday by smearing me publicly and to actually pick up a broom once in awhile.   That was too much to ask.  So, in order to have all of his facebook flings - and there were many - and to ensure a fresh supply of sympathy he made himself homeless.  THAT is a textbook sociopath.

Yes, he did that.  Went and made himself homeless to hook the sympathy of anyone naive.  I know it sounds untrue, but trust me it is true. 

He has now hooked a new victim for a place to live.  How romantic!?!?  Although I shouldn't gloat over others' misfortune, I do look forward to this new wife finally seeing the sociopathy.  It will happen.  It's inevitable. 

He truly is damaging to EVERYONE around him - including himself and there is nothing anyone can do to stop him or help him. 

I look back on it now and know that I enabled his narcissistic behavior by expecting nothing of him.  I allowed him to bull-doze me and be disrespectful of me every single day of our relationship.   It is me that is working on me so this never occurs again.  I am learning to set healthy boundaries and to say NO to anything I'm not comfortable with or something I don't want to do.   I can say pretty confidently that the narcissist is not ever going to find someone as naive as I was, who will allow the abuse to go on and on unchecked because my self-esteem and self-worth was non-existant.  My therapist told me that my marriage should have ended years ago.  It only lasted as long as it did (24 years) because I kept it going.  I allowed him to walk all over me.  I surely hope that anyone else that comes into his life is not that easily manipulated and abused.  The good news is I'm learning.  I'm working on me.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Introducing Me

I begin this blog somewhat reluctantly.  I have been divorced about six months now from a tasmanian narcissist and I am barely getting to a place where I can make it through a day without a fit of crying.  I have described my ex Narcissist husband on a few ocassions as the Tasmanian Devil.  He whirled into my life, created havoc, destroyed everyone and everything within a 10 mile range and whirled out leaving behind complete destruction and chaos.  He is the Tasmanian Narcissist.  For anyone reading this that has no experience with a narcissist, - I can't even find enough words to tell you the damage done by these individuals.  At the very least it is soul rape, and it's every other destructive word in the English language - short of death.  They use and discard you like an old pair of shoes.  When a narcissist determines he or she is done with you - they put you down at the curb like trash on garbage day and walk away without a single thought.  They think about, obsess about and care about YOU in the same way we think, obsess and care about the trash we put out for collection.  In other words we DON'T and neither does a narcissist. 

It's hard to imagine that this kind of evil walks the Earth, but it does.  Malignant narcissism is an all pervasive evil and there is no cure for it.  There is no cure because narcissists do not think anything is wrong with them.  Therefore, there is nothing to cure or fix.  No matter what the problem - it will always be YOU with the problem and never them.   My ex N husband used to say "we'd get along fine if it weren't for you."  Of course, it was always me.  He blamed me for everything.  He once blamed me for a car accident that he was in and I wasn't even in the car.  I was at work!  He blamed my kids when they were small for his lack of concern for them.  He blamed a five year old boy (my son) for the fact that he didn't have a real relationship with him.  Yes, he did that!   Anyway, you get the picture.  They are flaw-less, they are perfect, they are without sin.  If you have a problem with a narcissist, they will be sure to tell you that it is YOU.

Now, we're told that we can't diagnose someone without a Ph.D in psychiatry or something similar.  But, for those that have lived with an abusive spouse/parent/sibling/child/etc. you don't need a degree to know when someone has abused us, you don't need a degree when someone destroys your soul because you feel it.   I'm not so concerned with the diagnosis, anyway.    I know what I've lived with and it's NPD [narcissistic personality disorder] even if I'm not qualified to diagnose.  My ex N husband is a raging N and he destroyed me and my now adult children.  He has already moved on to another family - already re-married and playing the doting step-father.  He did this within weeks of trashing his own family.   He has used facebook in the evilest of ways and posted daily rants about me and his own kids.  He called us every name in the book and smeared us to high heaven.  I would imagine his new wife witnessed all of this and married him anyway.  I don't feel sorry for her.  If she married a man after knowing him a short time, witnessed his smear campaign and married him without ever meeting his kids....well then she won't get much sympathy from me when it goes bad....AND it will go bad.

So I begin this blog and hope others will read and post their experiences. 

There is recovery after a Tasmanian Narcissist but I have not yet found it.

I only wish he was made with ink and color like the cartoon version.  I'd get out my big eraser and he'd be gone from our lives. 

Until then - signed,

the ex wife of the Tasmanian Narcissist