Special Days After Escaping Narcissistic Abuse

Special days after escaping narcissistic abuse can be very odd & very difficult days.  Many narcissists make holidays miserable in some fashion.  The overt narcissists may do everything they can to ruin the day by starting some ridiculous drama as a way to sap the enjoyment out of the day for everyone else.  Or, the covert narcissists may work hard to make special days extravagant so they may be praised for all their hard work, & make people think they’re so wonderful because there is nothing they won’t do for their family.  Whichever the case, special days make a very deep & lasting impression on victims of narcissistic abuse, & sometimes they can be very difficult even after the abuse has ended.

My late mother in-law controlled the big holidays & some special days such as her & my late father in-law’s birthdays & their anniversary.  Everyone was expected to show up to her get togethers, no excuses not to, & bask in all the hard work she put into making these days special.  I wasn’t overly fond of holidays to start with because my ex in-laws, although not narcissists, also expected certain things on the holidays & there was no excuse not to do them.  I already was fed up with holiday demands, & my mother in-law’s behavior didn’t help!  As a result, I still hate holidays even years after my last attendance at such events.  I’ve tried creating new traditions or doing things I enjoy on the day to counteract my negative mindset, but nothing has worked.  Most holidays & special days are now just another day to me at best or at worst days I dread.

In my family, my grandparents made July 4^th into a celebration combined with a family reunion.  As a kid, I loved it.  I got to see my two favorite people, my grandparents, & it was always a fun time with my family lots of fireworks.  It’s only been in the very recent past that it occurred to me that most of those people I was so happy to see each July 4^th are narcissists.  I can think of eight people off the top of my head that have been utterly cruel to me.  That’s a lot of people in just one family!

Since you’re reading this, it’s safe to assume your story is similar.  I’m sorry for that.  My hope is to help you to handle this situation in a healthy way.

I always recommend prayer as the best place to start because, well, it is.  God knows us much better than even we do, & is infinitely smarter than us.  What better source could there be for help?!  Just ask Him to help you to in this situation & He will. 

You can try creating new traditions that have nothing to do with the narcissist, too.  Do something that is pretty much the opposite of what the narcissist did.  Create a calm environment without pointless drama.  Rather than participate in the usual traditions, do something unique like take a trip somewhere you like.  For example, instead of spending Christmas exchanging gifts & eating turkey & all the usual fixings, go to the beach for a couple of days.  Or, maybe go to the mountains or go skiing with friends.  After doing this once you might want to make it an annual tradition.

If this doesn’t help you to find some joy in special days, I understand totally since it didn’t help me much either.  It’s ok!  Instead, you could write out what you feel in your journal, leaving nothing out.  Granted, this isn’t going to add a lot of fun to your day, but it may help you to figure out how you can begin to enjoy special days again. At least it’ll help purge you of negative feelings.

If your situation is more like what I described with my family, you once enjoyed gatherings & only later realized there were many narcissists there, you’re going to need to grieve.  This is a loss, finding out your family members are narcissists, & it should be treated as such if you are to move past this painful realization.  It’s important to remember that moving past it is a realistic goal.  Getting over it may not happen.  Hopefully it will, but if you find that you simply can’t, don’t beat yourself up over it.  I haven’t been able to get over the realization with my family either.  It still hurts, but so much less than it once did.  And, once you get to a place of healing, you might be able to find joy in special days by doing things you like & creating new memories.

I wish you the best in your healing journey! xoxo

Father’s Day

Those of us who grew up with overtly narcissistic mothers often grew up thinking our fathers were great guys.  After all, compared to Mom, they really were great.  They didn’t berate & control us constantly.  Since we also had a skewed view of love, we believe they loved us.

 

The sad truth though is many of us have fathers who weren’t the great guys we thought they were.  Many men married to overtly narcissistic women are covert narcissists.

 

Covertly narcissistic fathers often come across as hard workers (working long hours &/or traveling for work), soft spoken  & naive.  They need to be taken care of because they don’t always know what to do.  They may be clingy with their daughters, confiding in her about problems in their marriage.  When told about how abusive their children’s mother is, they claim they had no idea it was that bad, & there is nothing they can do to stop it.  They may even turn it around, claiming it’s so hard on them, knowing how cruel their wives are to their children.  Many are quite sneaky too, telling their wives one thing & their children another, to stir up strife between the mother & her children.  Some men, if their wife is angry, will somehow find a way to bring up their children to refocus her anger onto her children.  They will not hesitate to throw their children (of any age) under the bus with their wife in order to protect themselves from her anger.

 

Does this sound familiar to you?  If so, I really understand!  It’s my father in a nutshell.  And, I also understand that Father’s Day is a painful & frustrating day for you because of this!  It is for me too.

 

Remember my post about the recent argument with my parents?  I’m still dealing with it.  My mother is still not speaking to me, which works just fine for me.  She won’t hear my side of it, I don’t understand hers, so there is no working things out with her.  My father, however, is obviously still angry at me, but refuses to talk about it.  He insists on looking like the good guy no matter what, so rather than come out & say he’s angry with me, he goes into passive/aggressive mode.  He constantly brings up how he upset my dog by coming by one day when I wasn’t here, & hints that he doesn’t believe I wasn’t here.  He knows it bothers me he upset her & that he doesn’t believe me when I say I wasn’t here that day.  About a week ago, I didn’t answer when he called as I was busy (& frankly not in the mood to deal with him), so the next time we spoke, he told me he was so worried when I didn’t answer my phone.  According to him, since I didn’t answer the phone, he was forced to call one of my cousins who lives 450 miles away to try to get in touch with me.  All of this drama is about control- letting me know I am wrong for being upset with him & for not taking his call.

 

Normally I’m not thrilled with Father’s Day anyway, but this year?  UGH.  Much worse than normal.

 

I figured out to deal with it this year, I would still get my father a card, but it’s quite different than any other card I’ve given him.  I usually opt for a nice, Christian themed card that basically says “God bless you, have a nice day”.  Simple but nice while not saying he was a great father, since he wasn’t.  This year?  I opted for something funny.  My father will be glad he got a card, so there won’t be any repercussions for me.  I wasn’t even feeling like sending him a nice card, so the funny one worked for me.  It was a good compromise.  On the actual day, I won’t be calling my father or seeing him.  I’ll focus on my husband, who is a good dad to our furkids instead.  Plus,  this is hubby’s first Father’s Day since his mother died.  She often had big family parties on Father’s Day, & since this is his first year without that,  I want to be available for him in case he wants to talk or needs some  support.

 

I’m choosing to focus on what is the most important to me, & there is nothing wrong with that!

 

Father’s Day is a lovely idea.  If you have a great dad, then by all means, let him know he is a great dad!  Celebrate him on Father’s Day & any other day you feel the urge to do so.  However, if you too have a covertly narcissistic father, you don’t need to celebrate him on Father’s Day.  It’s OK!  There is nothing wrong with you!  You aren’t failing to honor your father!  It’s not un-Christian not to celebrate it.  It’s not commanded in the Bible to celebrate Father’s Day.  You are allowed to do whatever you feel you need to do.  Get him a card or don’t, give him a gift or don’t- there are no rules.  You need to do what feels right to you.

Father’s Day, 2014

Good morning, Dear Readers!

Father’s Day is upon us today.  To all of the great dads reading this, the dads who love, support, encourage & protect their children, I wish you a very happy day!

To those of you who are reading this & have been dreading this day, please know that I understand.

It is so hard to want to celebrate someone who has abused you or, possibly even worse, failed to protect you from being abused.  So many daughters of narcissistic mothers were not only only the victim of their mother, but their father as well.  Maybe your father didn’t belittle, criticize or hit you as your mother did, but by failing to protect you, or even turning her rage on you instead of him to protect himself, he is just as guilty of abuse.  In fact, most men married to narcissistic wives are covert narcissists. Things like this make it very hard to want to bless him on Father’s Day.

I just want you to know, Dear Reader, that I truly understand your pain & frustration.  I hope today that you will take good care of yourself, & only do for your father what you are able to do comfortably.  Remember- if you do not feel able to do much for your father today, there is a very good reason for that.  He is reaping what he has sown.   How could anyone want to bless a neglectful or abusive parent?  That is like planting apple seeds & expecting corn to grow.  It’s not going to happen. 

If you dread Father’s Day, or are feeling bad because you are incapable of fawning over your father today, know you are not alone!  And, think about the kind of father he has been.  I think you’ll realize there are very valid reasons you feel as you do!  ❤

Lastly, don’t forget to thank your Heavenly Father for all He does for you. He loves you so much, & does so much for you- why not take a few moments to thank Him & tell Him how much you love Him?

June 17, 2012

I just wanted to take a moment to wish you dads out there a very happy father’s day!!  May you be spoiled rotten today, & enjoy your day immensely!  God bless each of you!

I plan on going out with hubby today to lunch at our favorite place to celebrate the day.  Our kids may have fur, but that doesn’t make him any less of a dad.  In fact, as I write this, he’s snuggling with Luke (one of our Norwegian forest cats) on the sofa.  🙂

Enjoy your day everyone, & God bless you!