Welcome to indoctrination, a weekly conversation series about protecting yourself from systems of control.

I'm your host, Rachel Bernstein.

Hi, everyone. I am so happy that you're able to hear the second part of my conversation with you about being in a

relationship with a narcissist. And this is about how you realize that you are in a relationship

with a narcissist. And then how to make that change and also how to stay strong after you've left.

Because there are a lot of people who leave those relationships and then get drawn back in.

So how do you leave with more confidence, with less interference, with more safety, emotional, and physical.

And how do you care for yourself afterwards and keep yourself strong?

So first, I hope this makes things easier.

That leaving a relationship that wasn't really a relationship in the way you thought it was

might make it an easier thing to think about then.

Because when you're in a relationship, as I talked about last time, a relationship that you

might define as a relationship, there's one where there's

equality, where you can have good conversations, where you each get a chance to feel

equally respected. And usually, in a relationship like this, though, that's not what's happening.

So it does, I think, make it easier to think about leaving a

relationship when it's not actually a relationship, when someone is just taking over somebody else's

life. And I want to make sure also that you don't let their anger at you even thinking about leaving

or setting any kind of boundaries. I hope it doesn't make you feel like somehow you're treating

them unfairly and you deserve their anger. If they get mad at you at all, because you're starting to

call them on something or just pointing out that something they're doing doesn't feel quite fair or

it doesn't feel respectful, well, then I think it's important to remember the following. They say that nothing makes a narcissist

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