I Recently Realised Few People Around Me Seem to Be…Well, Narcissistic?!

I still remember the moment — not a dramatic explosion, but a quiet, sinking feeling. A few days ago, I looked around and realised: the way I was being treated wasn’t love, wasn’t friendship, wasn’t even kindness. It was control. Disconnection. Defensiveness. Manipulation dressed up as care.

It’s a hard truth to face, especially when you’ve built your life around people you once trusted. But over time, the patterns became undeniable:
– Conversations that left me confused or doubting myself.
– People who avoided accountability and blamed others — always.
– A constant feeling that I had to shrink myself to be safe.

At first, I thought it was just me — maybe I was too sensitive. Maybe I expected too much. But deep down, I knew something wasn’t right.

Why couldn’t I speak my truth? Why did I always feel the need to explain myself?

Then I remebered what I’d learned about emotional immaturity and narcissism. Not the obvious kind — not the grandiose, loud kind. But the subtle kind. The vulnerable kind. The kind that uses silence, guilt, passive aggression… The kind that pulls on your empathy, always plays the victim, and somehow makes you feel guilty. The kind that makes you question your memory, your needs, your worth.

And suddenly, everything clicked.
I wasn’t broken — I’d just been surviving.

Why This Realisation Matters

Once I saw it clearly, it was impossible to unsee. And that clarity changed everything. I started setting boundaries — not because I wanted to punish anyone, but because I wanted peace. I stopped over-explaining. I stopped twisting myself to be understood by people committed to misunderstanding me.

It was painful. Some relationships had to end. But what grew in their place was something much more honest - my own self-worth.

If This Feels Familiar to You…

You’re not imagining it. Emotional immaturity and narcissism can be incredibly confusing, especially when it’s coming from those closest to us: parents, partners, friends.

You might be stuck in self-doubt. Or maybe you’ve started waking up to these patterns and wondering what comes next. Wherever you are, you don’t have to go through it alone.

In my work as a therapist, I support survivors of narcissistic abuse and those recovering from long-term emotional confusion. Therapy is not about fixing you — it’s about finding yourself again.

If this resonates with you, I invite you to reach out or join my low-cost support group for survivors. There’s healing in being heard — especially by people who get it.