Episode 17 -When You’re Not the Crazy One: Notes from the Edge of Sanity …

Why You’re Not the Crazy One: Notes from the Edge of Sanity by someone who’s had enough turf stacked on them to build a small fortress.

There’s a moment somewhere between the third passive-aggressive text and the fiftieth circular conversation when you start to wonder: Is it me? Spoiler: It’s not.

Narcissists are like dodgy weather forecasts – you keep hoping they’ll be sunny, but you end up soaked every time.

1. Turf-Storm Tactics Living around a narcissist is like stacking turf in a wind tunnel. Just when you think you’ve made progress – boom. A gust of gaslighting knocks you flat. You’re left staring at the mess wondering if you somehow caused the gale. They twist reality like it’s sourdough – stretch it, pull it, leave it to rise with just enough guilt and confusion to ferment.

2. The Gaslight Tango dance is their specialty. You express a feeling and suddenly you’re in a full-blown trial.

‘I never said that.’ ‘You’re too sensitive’. ‘You’re imagining things’. And then they do a twirl and charm someone else into believing you’re the problem. Oscar-worthy performances, if the Oscars gave out awards for emotional manipulation.

3. Certified Crazy (According to Them) Let’s be clear: the moment you start questioning your own reactions is the moment their tactics have started to work. I once apologized for something I was absolutely right about – just to keep the peace. Peace, by the way, they have no real interest in maintaining unless they control it. You’re not unstable. You’re spinning from the emotional whiplash.

4. You’re Not the Crazy One You’re the one who notices. The one who questions. The one who cares. And that, dear reader is dangerous to a narcissist – because it threatens the empire they’ve built on silence and submission.

If you’re here, reading this, it means you’re already halfway out of the maze. That weird little voice that’s been whispering, ‘Something’s off’ – yeah, listen to it. That’s not madness. That’s clarity trying to dig its way out from under a pile of guilt-tripped turf.

Final Thought: You’re not losing it. You’re finding it. Your voice. Your reality. Your sense of self. And if all else fails, write it down, laugh about it and remind yourself: Sometimes the only way to survive the madness… is to outwit it with humor and a very sharp pen.