It was only six weeks.
But it felt like years.
Because pain doesn’t measure itself in time—it measures in impact.
I didn’t know it then, but I was in what many would call a karmic relationship—a bond that comes in fast and intense, not to last forever, but to teach you something you couldn’t learn any other way.
And this one taught me everything.
How I Lost Myself
In those six weeks, I questioned everything about myself.
Was I too emotional?
Too needy?
Too hard to love?
He mirrored all the wounds I hadn’t healed—rejection, abandonment, self-doubt—and dressed them up as my fault.
It was subtle, manipulative, and at times, cruel.
The highs were addictive.
The lows were erasing me.
The Awakening
As I sat in my pain, something started to shift.
It didn’t happen in a single moment—but over many quiet nights where I cried and asked the universe, “Why did I let this happen?”
The answer was gentle.
“Because it was time to see what you hadn’t yet healed.”
“Because your soul was ready to remember who you are.”
That’s when I began to see it differently.
The relationship didn’t break me—it revealed me.
It tore down the illusions I’d built about what I deserved and what love should feel like.
It showed me all the ways I had abandoned myself to be chosen by someone who never saw me.
And it asked me, “Are you ready to choose yourself now?”
Choosing Me
The real healing came after.
- In the quiet, painful honesty of journaling my truth.
- In forgiving myself—not for staying too long, but for not knowing better yet.
- In realizing I don’t need chaos to feel alive.
- In understanding that peace, softness, and safety are my birthright.
Thank You, Pain
I don’t thank him.
But I do thank the pain.
I thank the version of me who endured what she did and still had the courage to walk away.
I thank the silence that followed, because it taught me how to hear myself again.
I thank the wounds, because they pointed to where I still needed love.
And I thank this journey, because it returned me to my soul.
Final Thought
Sometimes the people who break us are the catalysts for our becoming.
Not because they were “meant” to hurt us,
but because we were ready to rise.
I didn’t just survive a narcissistic relationship.
I woke up from it.
And in doing so, I remembered who I truly am.
That’s not just healing.
That’s a homecoming.
For a more in depth look into how I reclaimed my power please read my story – Narcissist vs Empath
