You’ve tried explaining yourself. You’ve tried having the conversation. But what happens when nothing changes, no matter how carefully you say it?
When you’ve spent so long questioning yourself, it can be difficult to trust your own judgment about what’s happening.
If you’re struggling to make sense of your relationship, take my free Toxic or Troubled? survey to gain some clarity and explore your next steps.
https://kerrymcavoyphd.fillout.com/toxic-troubled-survey
Why do the people closest to you seem to pull away right when you need them most?
Leaving a toxic relationship doesn’t end the fallout. It changes your relationships with everyone else too.
In this episode, Kerry answers two listener questions from recent live streams about what happens after you leave: how to reconnect with adult children who grew up in the chaos, and why friends often struggle to stay close while you heal.
In this episode, learn:
1. Why you may still be walking on eggshells around your adult kids, and how to tell real tension from old fear
2. How your silence can read as not caring, and the one honest conversation that can change everything
3. How to apologize for the times trauma kept you from showing up, without needing a certain response back
4. Why “trauma dumping” is actually a normal stage of recovery, and why you may lose friends during it
5. How to handle well-meaning people who say painful things like “at least you knew love”
WANT TO GO DEEPER?
In the exclusive podcast extra, Kerry and Lynn get honest about the promise that keeps so many people stuck: “I’ll change for you.” Learn why desperate promises to change vanish the moment the relationship feels secure again.
Get immediate access to this and 100+ premium interviews when you become a Substack paid subscriber today. Join here -> https://substack.com/@breakingfreenarcabuse
00:00 Why people stop listening to your story
01:03 Walking on eggshells with your adult kids
02:38 The hotel room talk with my son
04:08 When your kids picked up narcissistic fleas
05:51 How to apologize to your kids
09:16 The habits we carry from a toxic relationship
10:02 Trauma dumping is a normal part of recovery
12:37 Why people don’t want to hear your story
15:12 I lost friends over my story
16:17 “At least you knew love”: what not to say
18:15 Some people can’t meet you where you are
#NarcissisticAbuseRecovery #NarcissisticAbuse #ToxicRelationship #TraumaBonding #TraumaDumping #AdultChildren #NarcissisticFleas #EmotionalAbuse #TraumaRecovery #MentalHealth
