Evelyn Ryan, Yourlifelifter

Self-care can be most challenging around the holidays when narcissistic abusers are free to exhibit the best of their worst behaviors and also use the “spirit” of the season to really play on our sympathies, guilt, and exaggerated shame.

After all, our lives had been ones where abusers habitually violated our personal boundaries and we were punished for caring for our own selves and even our basic needs. Our lives used to be and may continue to be ones where our dependence on others to define our self worth, who did/do not have our best interests at heart, caused/cause us to constantly be taken advantage of and exploited. Our abuse and painful histories caused us to abandon and neglect our own selves. It is also most challenging for those of us who also may be dealing with trauma and addiction to alcohol, drugs, food, etc.

Our pain triggers can be taxed when we are tag teamed by a herd of narcissists…