Relate much. Thank you for sharing your story and learnings, so much of what you say is relatable. The challenge for me has always been the understanding that whilst narcissistic, this person themselves has suffered that abuse in their childhood. There is absolutely no excuse to pass abuse or trauma onto others, but as a sensitive soul, I can’t help but believe everyone deserves love and the chance to heal. Taking care of ourselves as you so eloquently write about is an absolute necessity, especially if we choose to stick around. There are degrees to narcissism, we all have some, identifying who the person really is beneath it is a tricky business, but it isn’t always worst case scenario I.e full blown NPD. Some relationships with more narcissistic individuals are viable, if we can be true to ourselves and create an environment that rejects what the abuse taught them about life, love, themselves, we can disable rather than enable that trauma inside them.