When a narcissist is in your life, there are certain things they try to entice you with. These temptations, once you give in to them, will only leave you feeling emotionally drained and defeated. The only person who benefits is the narcissist. These temptations become even more difficult to resist when the narcissist is a parent, child, or other family member that you care deeply about. But it is important that you do not indulge in these temptations thinking that you are strong enough or that this time it will be different because it will not. You would have just played a game that the narcissist is determined to win.
One of the first temptations is to argue with them.
Arguing with a narcissist is futile because they do not listen and only care about winning an argument. Arguments also allow the narcissist to project, gaslight, shift blame, play the victim, and use all their other manipulative tactics in one go. It is like an onslaught of verbal and emotional manipulation. They twist things and make up lies on the fly while inundating you with their word salads to provoke a negative reaction. You are bound to leave the argument feeling drained, angry, and even confused, while the narcissist is smirking and feeling really good about themselves. The narcissist does not care about the truth of a matter; they just prefer to be wrong and strong about it. Arguments only fuel their narcissism and provide an opportunity for them to be emotionally abusive.
Another temptation would be to compromise your values or boundaries to appease the narcissist.
Continue reading on the next page
Sharing is caring!