Are you dealing with an exhibitionist narcissist? Somatic narcissists are synonymous with exhibitionist narcissists – but they aren’t exactly what you think. In this video, I’ll fill you in on how to identify a somatic or exhibitionist narcissist.
An exhibitionist narcissist is similar to other types of narcissists. They usually grow up with poor self-esteem and may lack a nurturing environment at home. They often compensate for this by having an inflated sense of self.
2. Center of attention. Exhibitionist narcissists always have to be the center of attention. They want the whole world to revolve around them.
○ They love attention and seek it out. They want everyone to love and praise them. They’re not comfortable sharing the spotlight with friends or other family members. They easily become jealous if they’re not the center of attention.
3. Lack of empathy. Exhibitionist narcissists don’t understand what other people are feeling. They can’t relate to them and often ignore them.
○ Although exhibitionist narcissists are capable of feeling hurt, they don’t realize it when they hurt others. They’re only able to see their own feelings and don’t care about how others feel.
○ Exhibitionist narcissists also tend to be selfish. They expect the world to bend to their needs and desires. They want everything immediately and lack patience. They don’t care that their wishes inconvenience others.
4. Expecting perfection. Most exhibitionist narcissists expect perfection from those around them. They have unrealistic expectations and extremely high standards.
○ They also believe that they’re perfect, and it’s impossible to convince a narcissist that they’ve made a mistake. They push their expectations on others and refuse to live in the real world.
○ Projecting perfection is also important for the exhibitionist narcissist. They will go to great lengths to convince others they’re perfect. They’ll spend hours editing photos, cleaning their homes, or buying new things. They’ll lie if it’s necessary to convince someone they’re perfect.
○ Often, exhibitionist narcissists will post idealized images and stories about their lives online.
5. Using others. Since exhibitionist narcissists don’t care about other people, it’s easy for them to use others. In some cases, they’ll use family members as props.
○ They often tend to think of people as things. They believe they’re easy to replace and exchange.
○ Exhibitionist narcissists can make family or friends feel like they’re accessories. Since the narcissists have to be the center of attention at all times, they’ll push people aside to get what they want.
○ Narcissist have a hard time returning affection because they don’t view others as their equals.
6. No apologies or responsibility. Exhibitionist narcissists are not able to apologize even if they realize they’ve done something wrong. They don’t take responsibility for their actions.
○ They refuse to acknowledge that they’re wrong. You can wait forever to hear an apology from them, and you won’t get one.
○ Admitting a mistake would be a devastating blow to their egos.
○ It’s easier for them to pretend nothing is wrong. It’s easier to ignore issues forever and let others suffer because, once again, they don’t care.
Once you learn the signs, it’s easy to spot an exhibitionist narcissist. You can learn how to see these signs and use the information to avoid narcissists.
Are you struggling to find self-love after narcissistic abuse? Narcissistic abuse is a form of emotional abuse that can leave you feeling worthless and without self-confidence. This can be very difficult to move past, especially if you’re left trying to figure out how to build self-esteem from scratch – which many survivors of narcissistic abuse are, thanks to having grown up in toxic homes before finding themselves in toxic relationships with narcissists as adults.
Why does narcissistic abuse cause you to lose yourself?
You probably already know that pathological narcissists will do everything in their power to keep you under their thumb, including playing on your insecurities. They know exactly how to make you feel like you’re not good enough.
The truth is, you are good enough; you deserve love, respect, and admiration. But the first step to finding that love for yourself is recognizing that you’ve been manipulated into feeling like you aren’t. Once you realize that the negative things your partner said about you were false, it’s easier to set them aside and move forward with self-love. So what can you do to help yourself feel more confident? Stick with me and I’ll show you.
How do you find your self-confidence and self-esteem after narcissistic abuse?
That’s what we’re talking about today – finding the part of yourself that lets you create and grow an unbreakable, unapologetic sense of self that will release you of the need to be validated from outside yourself.
There’s no shortage of information on how to strengthen your relationship with your family, boss, or coworkers. However, you never hear about how to have a more productive relationship with yourself.
You may have spent most of your life avoiding yourself. It can be difficult to address our shortcomings or deal with uncomfortable thoughts, especially when we’ve spent so long being torn down, manipulated, and abused by the narcissist in our lives. But as much as you’d love to some days, you can’t escape yourself, so you might as well make friends.
How can you develop a stronger relationship with yourself after narcissistic abuse?
After an intimate relationship with a narcissist, the sense of self can be totally lost. Discard, hate, and disregard from the abuser leave the victim with almost no sense of worth. It’s important to find your sense of self, as you move forward as a survivor who has lived through an abusive relationship.
Self-love after narcissistic abuse is possible, but it’s not easy. You’ve been manipulated by the narcissist. You’ve been abused mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. It’s hard to believe you’re worthy of love, or that you have the power to give yourself love.
Forgive yourself first.
The truth is that you cannot love yourself if you do not forgive yourself. Forgiving yourself will allow you to move forward without holding on to the past.
Remember you’re allowed to be angry.
You must also realize that it’s okay to be angry at the narcissist. You do not need to pretend that you are over it or that you have forgiven them. You can be angry and still love yourself. It’s okay to even hate someone for what they did and still love yourself at the same time.
Go no contact if you can.
Let go of your ex-partner and cut off all contact with them completely. This is very important since they will try their best to get back into your life so you can continue taking care of them and putting their needs before your own.
Express yourself creatively!
Express your feelings through art, music, poetry, or any other form of expression that makes you feel better. This will help you release some of the negative emotions that are inside of you and will make it easier for you to let go of the past.
Plan for your new future.
Take back control of your life by setting goals for yourself, make plans for what you want in life, decide how much money you want to make and work on a roadmap to get you where you want to be, one step at a time. And while you’re at it, work on developing a stronger relationship with your Self.
How do you build your self-confidence after narcissistic abuse?
Start your day with gratitude and positive thoughts.
Instead of reaching over for your cell phone to check the weather or to see if your Clash of Clans village was raided overnight, spend the time on yourself. Mentally list a few things that make you grateful to be alive. Tell yourself something positive.
Give yourself the intention of having a good day.
List your positive qualities.
Get your day off to a good start with yourself.
Write in a journal.
Your thoughts and life are worth recording. Take time each evening to write for a few minutes. You’ll gain a lot of insight and appreciation for your life. Show yourself that your life matters.
Let go of your avoidance behaviors.
What do you do when you’re feeling emotionally under the weather? Shop? Eat? Get online? Instead of avoiding yourself, sit with yourself.
Just breathe and notice your feelings and body sensations.
Avoiding them just prolongs the cycle. In time, your negative emotions will dissipate without your attempts to hide from them.
Think of meditation as spending quality time with yourself.
Begin with just a few minutes and extend the time as you feel more comfortable. You’ll learn how your mind works by meditating.
Spend time on your personal development.
What do you feel the need to learn?
Social skills?
Relaxation skills?
Networking?
Spiritual development?
You spend so much time doing things for your boss, home, and family. Take a break and spend some time dealing with your own needs.
Have some fun.
Plan some fun in your life. Get a monthly massage or meet a friend for ballroom dance lessons. It’s your life. Enjoy it.
Forgive yourself.
You’ve made a few mistakes and missed out on a few sure-fire opportunities. That’s no reason to beat yourself up for the rest of your life. It’s time to let go of your past and forge ahead.
Groom yourself to a high standard.
Take the time to shower each day and pay a regular visit to the barber or salon. Keep your grooming at a higher standard than others in your environment. Take good care of yourself and show the world how much you mean to yourself.
Spend some time each day being good to yourself.
Have some fun and spend some time on your personal development. Strengthen the most important relationship of all – the one with yourself.
Understand that you are relevant.
You matter to the world. Your opinions matter. Your work matters. Your mere presence matters. You’ve already touched numerous lives in a positive way.
Understand that your greatest mistakes don’t define you.
Your mistakes may have influenced your life, but they’ve only changed who you are if you’ve permitted it. It doesn’t matter how many mistakes you’ve made. Tomorrow is a new day.
Forgive someone that has wronged you.
Forgiving doesn’t mean that you have to let them back into your life or give them another chance. It just means that you’re not going to spend any more time or mental energy holding onto your anger. Be good to yourself and let it go. You’ll impress yourself with your inner strength and enjoy the relief that forgiveness brings.
Think about the best compliments you’ve ever received.
Bask in them. The most meaningful compliments are those that ring true in the depth of your soul. It’s exciting when someone else recognizes the best that we have to offer the world.
Take a stand for something you believe in.
Be bold in your opinion of what’s right and wrong. Be willing to share your interests and hobbies with others. When you love yourself, you can do what interests you without the need for approval from others. Be proud of what’s most important to you.
Be kind to yourself.
The world will be harsh enough on you. Make an effort to be kind to yourself. Remember your good qualities and your strengths.
Be of service to others.
We admire those that give of themselves. You can admire yourself by spending some time each week helping to make someone else’s life a little easier or more pleasant. Find a charity or social organization that addresses a cause that’s near and dear to your heart.
Take care of yourself.
See the doctor and dentist. Pay for a good haircut. Avoid dressing like a slob. Avoid being obsessed with your appearance, but give it the attention it deserves. Make an effort to look your best because you’re worth the time and effort.
Do something nice for yourself.
Take the trip you’ve been putting off. Buy yourself a book. Take a class on a topic that interests you. Buy those expensive sheets for the bed. Don’t do it as a reward. Do it just because you’re wonderful.
Get help if you need it.
No one can handle everything all of the time, and narcissistic abuse recovery isn’t something you want to go alone. Sooner or later, we all need help. That help may come in the form of a trusted friend or professional help. Get the help you need. Remember, you’re worth it.
How well do you know yourself? How well do you manage yourself? Both could always use a little enhancement. It’s not always easy to live with yourself, but remember that you have a lot to offer yourself!
Remember your greatest successes. Remember how amazing you are. You’ve done lots of great things. Remind yourself of them.
Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Support Resources
The QueenBeeing SPANily, Official – We consider this to be the best narcissistic abuse recovery support group on the web. Offers several subgroups and features a vigilant, compassionate admin team full of trained coaches and survivors, supporting more than 12k members. SPAN is an acronym created by Angie Atkinson that stands for Support for People Affected by Narcissistic abuse in toxic relationships.
Other Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Support Groups– We also have separate groups for each stage in your narcissistic abuse recovery, as well as some for those who have moved past recovery and are evolving into the next stage of their own life. Survivors have unique and individual needs, even when they’ve moved on – so we’re still here for you.
One-on-One Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Coaching – If you prefer to get more personalized support in your recovery, you might like to schedule a session with one of our coaches to plan and execute your own narcissistic abuse recovery plan.
Find a Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Therapist – If you’re looking for a therapist for narcissistic abuse recovery, either because you cannot afford coaching and want to use your health insurance or because you have additional issues you need to address that do not fall within the realm of coaching, you will want to find the right therapist for you – and as far as we’re concerned, that therapist must understand what you’ve been through. This page offers assistance to help you do exactly that.
You’ve gone no contact with a narcissist and you’re feeling relieved, but there are some new things that have popped up which have you feeling worried again. You’re wondering if you did the right thing by going no contact with a narcissist. Or you just want to be certain that going no contact with a narcissist is the right thing for your sanity.
What is no contact?
No Contact is a self-help technique that is practically required to heal after narcissistic abuse. It involves removing yourself from the narcissist’s life. You stop seeing, speaking to, and interacting with the narcissist. This allows you to clear your life of the negative energy they bring into every room.
Does life get better when you go no contact with the narcissist?
It can feel like a weight has been lifted off you when you finally break free from a narcissist. You will be free from the constant manipulations, mind games, gaslighting, and blaming. Life can most definitely get better.
What will you lose when you leave the narcissist?
You know what you gain when you leave the narcissist. But what will you lose? Everyone’s always telling you how much better life will be when you leave a narcissist right? They tell you what you’ll gain – your freedom, your peace, etc.
109 Things You Can Stop Worrying About When You Go No Contact with a Narcissist
No more of not having anyone to share in your accomplishments or appreciate your talents, because the narc doesn’t want to share the limelight.
Being able to express your opinion without being accused of wanting to argue.
Being able to have a collection and not be called a hoarder.
Being able to be tired or sick without someone being pissed off because you’re not taking care of them.
Being able to watch tv!
Being able to play Xbox!
Being allowed to stay up as long as you want to!
Not having to explain why your interests are not weird!
Being able to have an interest!
Being able to have a holiday that’s not ruined – or a birthday!
No more hiding from the neighbors, so they can’t ask you questions!
Being allowed to raise your kids lovingly without paying the consequences!
Being able to say what I like and want matters!
no more tears and confusion!
No more name-calling
No more narcissists saying they are playing when confronted
No more hearing, “If I don’t give you a hard time, who will?”
Not having your immune system damaged, lowered, compromised, and destroyed leading to depression, illnesses and death. If the narc has financial incentives to see you dead, it all adds up.
No more “Hurry! Go to bed your dad’s home!” and yelling at my children so he didn’t.
No more dealing with a narcissist crushing/making fun of your goals and dreams
No more buying things for yourself and having them get broken
No more defending myself of BS.
No more starting every conversation with “now please don’t get pissed, but…”
No more hearing a narcissist criticize my voice on phone calls and say they knew something was wrong.
No more having my quietness evaluated or being criticized for “a look a narcissist claimed I had”
No more being teased about my eyes.
No more being criticized for my looks.
No more hearing that I was a big girl; or being asked how much I weighed.
No more walking on eggshells
No more narcissists acting like they want to see you out of kindness but they’re broke, need food, need bus money/ a ride, and need clean laundry and play it like they’re doing you a favor by gracing you with their awesome company
No more escalating violence because she knows the law is on a female’s side and guys are guilty until proven innocent.
No more watching the narcissist check out young men/women half my age and then blaming me for paranoia.
No more sheer terror over uncovering complex lies, betrayal, and deceit.
No more being fearful for my life over discovering the lies.
No more being lied about to police officers and being falsely thrown into jail for a day.
No more starving literally for love and food.
No more flying monkeys.
No more trauma.
No more gaslighting.
No more being threatened to be homeless.
No more stupid idiots surrounding me making me stupider emotionally and intellectually.
No more having my stuff stolen.
Not having to worry that the narcissist isn’t answering the phone on break time and learning later that they were in the car with someone else of the opposite sex.
No more p*rn in the DVD, on the computer, under the bed, in the shed, on top of the cupboard, in our caravan, in his truck, bedside drawer, on his phone, on his work computer.
No more paranoia about where the narcissist is at
No more finding “enhancement” pills in his car, stripper cards hidden in the kitchen, and the proclamations “dindu nuffin”
No more caring what his/her stupid followers think of me and wondering what I have done now for all the negative judgments.
No more having to be a designated driver because the narc will always get drunk &/or stoned to “have a good time”.
Being glad to be alive now that I know how to identify these beasts.
Not having to deal with the narcissist’s screams at midnight or later, waking up all the neighborhood, just because I told them something they didn’t like or I told them if they didn’t change, I would leave.
Not being abused anymore, treated as an object, with no emotions, no love, no feelings.
Not having to deal anymore with the devastation in my kid’s eyes because the narcissist didn’t keep their promises towards them. or toward me.
No more having to pretend I’m dumb and that I believed the lies.
No more bending over backward trying to please my narcissist ex
No more being ignored after sex even if you did everything just the way the narcissist wanted.
No more feeling so alone and unloved and finally realizing you thought you were sharing your soul, but to the narcissist, the act had no meaning.
No more being just an “appliance” the narcissist used.
No more being repeatedly discarded.
No more being looked at with dead or empty eyes.
No more not ever being apologized to.
No more having to share your life and living space with a complete and total monster.
No more having to “loan” the narcissist money.
No more having to prove myself and being afraid of expressing myself
No more getting in trouble for missed days at work during discards and devalues
No more fearing their mood swings.
No more turning down friends invites for dinner fearing the narcissist would get jealous.
No more head games.
No more being accused of having someone in bed with me when the narcissist would call.
No more feeling nervous when they would drive 100 mph and hearing the narcissist was a good driver and that cars are made to drive fast blah blah blah)
No more getting the silent treatment and no more of me being blamed for leaving
No more hearing that “I don’t try hard enough and I should’ve hugged the narcissist”
No more crying and not being able to wear makeup.
No more fearing to shave my legs because that meant I “went out” the night before.
No more being forced to do things when I wasn’t feeling up to it.
No more cringing when he/she would walk out of stores without paying for stuff.
No more babysitting the narcissist’s kid even though they were awful the night before.
No more being told that medicine is bad and that I shouldn’t take Advil or Excedrin meanwhile (when the narc did drugs) ?
No more hearing the narcissist brag about how good they are at their job and without them, they are all probably dying of boredom.
No more lying to my kids as to why I’m crying (that still hurts)
No more of the narcissist’s stupid “I’m so spiritual” speeches yet they didn’t know what the hell they were talking about.
No more broken promises.
No longer being accused of everything that goes wrong in the world.
Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Support Resources
The QueenBeeing SPANily, Official – We consider this to be the best narcissistic abuse recovery support group on the web. Offers several subgroups and features a vigilant, compassionate admin team full of trained coaches and survivors, supporting more than 12k members. SPAN is an acronym created by Angie Atkinson that stands for Support for People Affected by Narcissistic abuse in toxic relationships.
Other Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Support Groups– We also have separate groups for each stage in your narcissistic abuse recovery, as well as some for those who have moved past recovery and are evolving into the next stage of their own life. Survivors have unique and individual needs, even when they’ve moved on – so we’re still here for you.
One-on-One Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Coaching – If you prefer to get more personalized support in your recovery, you might like to schedule a session with one of our coaches to plan and execute your own narcissistic abuse recovery plan.
Find a Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Therapist – If you’re looking for a therapist for narcissistic abuse recovery, either because you cannot afford coaching and want to use your health insurance or because you have additional issues you need to address that do not fall within the realm of coaching, you will want to find the right therapist for you – and as far as we’re concerned, that therapist must understand what you’ve been through. This page offers assistance to help you do exactly that.
If you think back to the beginning of your relationship with your narcissist, do you recall all the big promises (actual or implied) that were made to you – and how many of them didn’t seem to pan out the way the narcissist promised? Future faking is a manipulation tactic in which the narcissist makes promises to you about an amazing future you’re going to have, but never delivers. Often employed during love bombing and hoovering, future faking is one way that narcissists get and keep us hooked.
Why does the narcissist want to stay friends after he or she blatantly discards you in a relationship? What could be the benefit – and it is a good idea to remain friends with your ex? That’s what today’s video covers.
Today, I’m answering the question: Should you stay friends with your narcissist after the discard?
When you break up with a narcissist, is it even possible to stay friends? Plus: I’ll give you 10 important facts you need to consider before you say “yes” to a narcissist who wants to stay friends after your breakup or divorce. Dealing with a narcissist or someone with NPD in a toxic relationship is hell – considering the gaslighting, the manipulation and the ups and downs of it all, you’ve got to consider whether the trauma bonding you’ve experienced is really worth going back to.
