I just discovered this subreddit, though I have known my father's wife was a narcissist for a long, long time. I just wanted to share this little gem with you!
When I was living with my dad and his wife in high school, she had all sorts of ridiculous rules (as you all are probably well acquainted with). One such rule was that I had to ask permission before opening food.
How did I discover this unspoken rule? I opened a new bag of bagels because I wanted one for breakfast.
Subsequently, I was yelled at, threatened with homelessness, and told that I was not allowed to eat an after school snack that day, and that I was lucky that I was getting dinner that night. And from that moment on, I was required to ask permission before opening ANY unopened food. If something hadn't been opened yet, and my dad and his wife weren't there to give me permission, I wasn't allowed to eat whatever it was. In my own home.
I didn't think too much about this until I moved in with my SO. Then one day, while he was at work, I wanted to eat cereal. The problem was, he had finished off the milk the day before, and the only carton was an unopened one that I had bought the previous night.
I stood in front of that refrigerator, staring at that carton of milk, shaking and sobbing with fear. I couldn't do it. I could not open my milk. Here I was, a full grown adult, and I couldn't open the milk that I had bought.
As soon as he got home, I ran to him and said "Can I please open the milk?" He looked at me funny and said "It's your milk, why are you asking me?" I broke down and told him everything about the stupid rule, and he made it his mission to make sure that I got over this hang up. He made me open all of our food from then on without asking permission. It was terrifying at first, but gradually I got over it with lots of love and support and some therapy.
I am proud to say that finally, after five years, I can now open food without asking permission first! Oh, and my dad and his devil wife are also out of the picture so there's that too.
TLDR: After five years, I finally overcame my fear of milk.
Submitted March 20, 2015 at 05:17AM by mintarey http://ift.tt/1B7Lwgy raisedbynarcissists
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