But over time, your body started speaking louder than your thoughts. You began noticing that being around them made you tense. Your shoulders tightened. Your stomach felt uneasy in knots. And you could not quite relax. You couldn’t breathe, even when nothing overly bad was happening. The illusion of safety began to break down. You stopped seeing their presence as comforting and started recognizing it for what it was: pressure, manipulation, control, or emotional unpredictability.
And most importantly, you stopped pretending that it was love.
When someone consistently invalidates your reality, guilt-trips you for having boundaries, or treats contempt as concern, your body remembers because it keeps the score. You may not have made any official decision to walk away, but your system begins to withdraw. You stop leaning into the connection. You start limiting your time with them. You keep conversations short, and your responses start to feel more like autopilot than actual connection.
Sign 4: Stopping the explanations
When you are in a relationship with a narcissist, you spend a lot of time trying to be understood. You try to express your feelings clearly. You try to tell them what’s going on. You give them the benefit of the doubt. You explain your intentions, clarify your tone, reword your texts, and try again because you believe the problem was a lack of understanding.
But eventually, you realize: They understand. They just don’t care.
And that realization changes everything.
Why? Because you stop trying to explain why something hurt you. You know they will find a way to blame you for being “too sensitive.” You stop justifying why you need space, because they will accuse you of being cold or distant. You stop defending your boundaries because you already know they’re going to take it personally and punish you for it later.
You may also want to read this:
Words That Destroy a Narcissist
9 Secrets ALL Narcissists Keep
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