caribeandiva
Human being
@PrissiSippi during this difficult time.
I need to get caught up. I hope everything is ok Priss. Did you and your DH split up or am I reading that wrong?I'm very nice. I'm probably very vulnerable at this point. I must admit after DH left I decided I would pick myself and go on a date. I know I know wrong Idea. Anyway it was time for the date and no show. Two hours later I get a text saying that he got caught up at church and he was so sorry but he was almost finished. He called me one hour later asking was I still free. But I noticed into that phone call five minutes in he got a call from a "client" on the other line. Old me would have been so patient and forgiving. I thought about @hopeful with creating boundaries and @Zaynab saying that if a guy is serious....you are his Beyonce. He would never treat Beyonce like this and put her on hold. I told him I made other commitments for the day and he could call me later when his time was not so consumed. You would think he would apologize or call back to explain. Nah. It actually really weeded through the shullbit. This is the importance of boundaries.
I also realized that even though I'm going through, my mother never calls and checks on my wellbeing or tells me things will be alright. Even the whole trust in the Lord would suffice. I get nothing but wanting to know my business. So I have come to the conclusion that I need to stay far far far away from her and keep her out of my business and life as a drama blocking plan and boundary. So far....so good.
And of course I know I need my therapist. Hopefully I will be able to speed up on my recovery with more focus now that DH is out of the picture. My therapist always wanted me to focus on my dissertation and walking each day as some small habits. Now I have nothing but time to do so. Wish me luck.
In 2018, for the sake of me and my son....I will learn faith, take things one day at a time, and implement healthy boundaries for my future. I'm so optimistic. 30's will be lit. There is truly life after codependency.
Yup you read it right.I need to get caught up. I hope everything is ok Priss. Did you and your DH split up or am I reading that wrong?
I'm so sorry. It's been wonderful to watch you grow and evolve over the years. And I want to remind you that you don't have to jump through hoops for any man to see how wonderful you are and treat you as such. If one won't, one will.Yup you read it right.
@PrissiSippi Trust me. If anyone knows, I promise you, life goes on. And you will be someone's Beyonce. One day I decided I'm my everyday Beyonce and someone will recognize that. And dh did and does treats me like I am. Don't settle for loving yourself 10000%%% and someone will love you even MORE. I promise you. Big hugs to you. I know you've been working on yourself and your marriage. What I've seen is you want a certain kind of husband and your current husband isn't that man. But, the man who is, you won't have to do anything and you won't have to mood or shape him. If you need anything, feel free to PM. All is not lost.
Thank you @Zaynab I learn so much from you ladies!I'm so sorry. It's been wonderful to watch you grow and evolve over the years. And I want to remind you that you don't have to jump through hoops for any man to see how wonderful you are and treat you as such. If one won't, one will.
You're welcome. And I've been right where you are so I hope you know I walk the talk. Take care of you first.Thank you @Zaynab I learn so much from you ladies!
The black community as a whole especially encourages black women to be the sacrifice to the black man and the black community. So I think that while codependency is a big problem for many women of all races, ethnicities, and backgrounds, it is especially so for black women.
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Life begins AFTER codependency. I’m living proof of that.
Me too! My thought process went from "I wish he would (begging, pleading, sadness)
to "I wish he would "
The danger of being too agreeable and too conscientious. Recipe to be exploited. Tell the truth and learn to negotiate on your behalf.
This is so me thinking back. Every single session is how my parents have hurt my feelings or how DH is a douche and how can I change my communication to reach him.Anyone here raised by narcs or abusive ppl? That's what got me sucked in. What was healthy? I had no clue until spending years in the therapists office. I realized around year 5 that all I talked about was him and my abusive parents. There was no space in the sessions for me! Wow. I was the poster child for codependence.
Marriage ended. Parents went to super-low contact. Life is much better.
What's the name of the program?Maan! I was looking at this self help recovery program, but I can’t see myself paying for it right now. If I didn’t have other obligations I would get the program.. I really like it. I like stuff that gets right to the point. Maybe I can just get the book.
Melanie Tonia Evans narcissistic abuse recovery program.What's the name of the program?
Thank you for the reminder! I agree with everything you wrote. Especially on not focusing on the narc and giving up researching them and their behaviors. I still find myself doing that and will stop immediately. I wanna move on and leave them in the past where they belong.I really like Melanie’s approach to healing. She basically teaches to not focus on the narcissist, or the other toxic people in your life, but to deal with how those people were able to penetrate into your life in the first place. What emotional wounds are you carrying around that makes you an emotional target? She talks about getting out of the victimhood state and to no longer research and look up information on toxic people. Constantly Trying to learn all you can about those types of people will just keep you in a victim state. You are not learning how to get out of, but more so learning how to deal with it. It is good to understand and recognize what is being done to you, but you also have to learn how to move on and away from it.
And she talks about forgiveness. Being judgemental and self righteous of others is a symptom of something that hasn’t healed inside of you. Also, talking about what the toxic person has done to you all of the time keeps you in victimhood as well. She even discusses how LOA for someone that has not healed from trauma is ineffective. You have to find the source of the trauma, deal with it head on, in order to come out of it and be able to receive the good that you want to put out into the universe.
So I’m going to get the program. You can pay for it monthly.
You know I had put so much energy into trying to learn how to arm myself to deal with them vs trying to figure out how to heal. Healing is what will set us free. I’m not trying to get in the fighting ring with those types of people anymore, since I now understand that I will always lose. I am not built like them. I am of spirit an life. You know I would draw people to me that I would play therapist with. I was always putting them on the couch. I got excited about trying to analyze them and fix them, but I would always feel drained by it afterwards. I don’t wanna be with people that I feel I need to some how fix, or be the friend of the underdog. That’s not good on my part. Even on this board, there are times when I wanna run to someone’s rescue and give them my perspective, but I’m starting to lean back from that. I’m good at analyzing people. But I gotta work on me. I take other people’s problems on mentally, and it stays with me. I relive traumatic experiences over and over in my head, it’s like Groundhog’s Day.Thank you for the reminder! I agree with everything you wrote. Especially on not focusing on the narc and giving up researching them and their behaviors. I still find myself doing that and will stop immediately. I wanna move on and leave them in the past where they belong.
@caribeandiva @shortdub78
I’m leaning to more often pull the lens back a bit to see what’s really happening vs just interacting with people. I’ll pull back and ask myself what’s really going on here?
I check in on what MY motivations are too. Am I trying to prove myself worthy or am I trying to fix something? I have to check myself.
Just overall trying to be more wise. All predators aren’t necessarily narcs. Predatorial people come in all shapes and forms. And we’d go crazy trying to analyze every potential type. That’s why we have to focus on ourselves and heal ourselves. That is hard enough to do. Otherwise we’ll go crazy and start thinking everyone is a potential narc or predator which keeps us from living and enjoying all of the good people in the world. I love this guy’s videos on the topic of narcissists and empaths (who have the potential to become codependent).
At the end I like when he says we must learn to “pick up on nuance and subtlety in interpersonal relationships and the energy that people give.”
I get it. I’m constantly checking myself too. I don’t wanna go into “fix it” mode since that’s my default mode. I need to focus on me and carry my own knapsack. Like @shortdub78 said I was trying to diagnose people hence all the research I was doing. I did that as a way to protect myself but all it did was keep me from enjoying life and looking at everyone in a paranoid way. I learned I can trust myself. When predatory people show up I pick up on that and act accordingly. I don’t give them the benefit of the doubt anymore. I quit making excuses for people.I check in on what MY motivations are too. Am I trying to prove myself worthy or am I trying to fix something? I have to check myself.
I need to focus on me and carry my own knapsack.
yep. Stay in your lane and life will get infinitely better. I’m rereading Boundaries as a refresher. Don’t wanna forget any of its valuable lessons.This is a cute way to explain the importance of minding our own business and staying in our lane. I love the imagery of carrying my own knapsack.