Welcome to the narcissistic abuse recovery podcast. I'm Caroline Stawson and I'll be sharing with you

awareness, understanding and education about the devastating effects of narcissistic abuse to help you thrive.

I want you to know that I've been exactly where you are now and I believe you.

And this show is all about taking you from trauma to transformation.

So I get lots and lots of messages saying to me, my dad's an narcissist, my mom's an narcissist,

my boyfriend, my husband, my wife, my sister,

my friend is a narcissist. And in this episode, I really wanted to talk to you about what exactly

is a narcissist? Because it is such an overused word in our society. I mean, how many times have you heard someone

saying, my ex is a narcissist? And you can see everybody in the room almost eye rolling at this,

because everyone's exes at the moment seem to be narcissists if you end a relationship.

And there's a difference between being a narcissist and being an asshole. Okay, that's the first thing.

But actually, what exactly is a narcissist? We

pandy around this term so much. And actually, when we do that as a society, we're really not

doing any favors to those victims of narcissistic abuse. And I know this firsthand, you know,

when I came out of the relationship with my ex-husband

in 2011, I didn't realize what I'd been through. I was a shout of myself. I'd lost all sense,

really, of what reality was. And when I look at the few photos that there were of myself,

if I'm honest, because I hated myself at that time.

I look at those photos and it's almost like I'm looking at a person, but there's no light on

behind the eyes. I look dead. I'm existing. I'm empty. And it's really quite distressing when

I look at those photos because I think back to how I felt. And of course, where I am now,

I don't feel like that at all. And it feels like a completely different person. And whenever I talk

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