This Sunday's Reflections Feels Like a Head-On Collision Straight From Hell

Narcissistic Reflections

Photo by Rick Rothenberg on Unsplash

Drug abuse leads to narcissistic abuse. How do I know this? I’ve lived it. I’ve seen it. I’m still living with it.

The connection between addiction and narcissism wasn’t something I realized immediately. It’s a painful truth I’ve learned after getting clean.

There was a time when drugs were everything.

The world around me was a blur because my drug of choice consumed my thoughts.

Every decision and every move we made revolved around getting high, maintaining the high, and finding the next high.

For years, I was trapped in this cycle.

Life, the world… Everything else became secondary.

The drug was the most important thing. It numbed me to everything and everyone, including the reality of my suffering.

My addiction didn’t just mask the pain. It created the perfect storm for my avoidance. It allowed me to endure the narcissistic behavior I should have run from. I was too lost in my high to recognize the manipulation, the control, the abuse.

Drugs became my coping mechanism, my defense mechanism.

Against the fear, the pain, and the emptiness buried deep inside me.

And for someone battling addiction, that feeling becomes all-consuming.