NARCISSISTIC ABUSE RECOVERY | Narcissist, Co-Parenting, Grey Rock Method, Boundaries, Healing, Toxic Relationship

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EMAIL ME: fiercemamac@gmail.com

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Hello, queens. All right. Last week I told you we're changing things up around here. We are giving the narcissist less airtime because haven't we had enough? Huh? Anyone know Uncle Jesse? Did I sound like him? All right. So we've analyzed what the narcissists do, their gaslighting, manipulation, very clear lack of boundaries. We've talked about going no contact my favorite way to deal with them. We've talked about all of it and all that's super, super important, especially when you're first realizing what happened to you. But eventually I want us to ask a different question. And by the way, all those episodes are in my past library of episodes. You can go, if you need to catch up there first, go right ahead. There's tons of information. But I want us to ask a different question now. Once you've gone through all that, once you understand more about the narcissist and how they work, how their minds work, what tactics they use, all that.

(01:03)
What happened to you while you were surviving all of that? And maybe even more importantly, how do we help you feel like you again? Or maybe you don't even know the version of you that is in your future and is going to be amazing and shiny and queen like. Because one of the strangest things about getting out of these situations is that the narcissists can be gone. They are powerful. They're not as powerful as they think, but they are powerful in a way of, it can still feel like you're waiting for the next thing to happen. You can be sitting in your house, nobody's yelling, no one's criticizing you, no one's giving you the silent treatment or accusing you of something you didn't do. Nobody's making you explain yourself for hours. Everything is technically maybe fine, but it doesn't feel fine, right? But your body is like, I don't trust this.

(02:02)
Anybody? Okay. Today we're talking about why you can still feel on edge after narcissistic abuse, even when you're finally safe.

(02:14)
So if you spent months or years with a narcissist or even emotionally abusive person, think about how much information you are constantly processing. What mood are they in? How did they say that? Was that a normal fine or was that fine? I feel like it's like there's this robot that ends up in our head, just these standard questions you're scanning, you're questioning, right? Why are they quiet? Why they shut the door like that? Should I bring this up? Should I wait? How can I say this without upsetting them? Are they going to twist what I say? Yes, they are, by the way. Do I have proof of what actually happened? Am I remembering this correctly? Maybe I'm the problem. You're not the problem. But you become a detective in your own relationship, whatever that relationship is. And when somebody's reactions are unpredictable, paying close attention can feel protective because maybe if you notice the mood change early enough, you can prevent the explosion.

(03:16)
Maybe if you choose exactly the right words, you can avoid the argument. Maybe if you're good enough, calm enough, accommodating enough, understanding enough, everything will stay okay. Except you eventually learn there was no perfect combination, but your brain still learned something during that. Pay attention. Don't relax too much. Something could change. And then you leave, you're out of the situation. And this is the part I don't think we talk about enough. You can remove yourself from the abusive situation, but you don't instantly just erase everything you learned while you were in it. Your brain learned patterns. Our brains are constantly using previous experiences to help predict what might happen next. We are professional predictors. It's a great thing and an awful thing. It's one of those double edged swords. If you have spent years experiencing criticism, manipulation, emotional unpredictability, walking on those eggshells, your attention can become very tuned into signs that something might be wrong.

(04:34)
So now you're with a healthy person and they say, "Okay." And this could be, look, if you're in a new relationship, I dealt with this. Actually having a healthy relationship was very abnormal and felt wrong and uncomfortable to me. But this could be even with you have a calm friend or you're hanging out with new people that almost seem boring because everything is predictable and calm, right? They say, "Okay, that's it. Okay." Normal people hear okay, but you might hear, "Okay, what did that mean? Are you mad?" They'll send a text and it just has a period instead of an exclamation and you're like, "Huh, maybe they're busy." But your brain has already written a Netflix limited series about what happened, right? Or everything in your life is going really well and instead of enjoying it, you're waiting for this other shoe to drop. I was like that with my husband when I first met him.

(05:34)
I just was like waiting, waiting so much I actually caused an issue because I was looking for scanning, scanning, looking for something. There has to be something wrong. There's always been something wrong in my home relationships, in my romantic relationships.

(05:54)
So if you have especially both, which is very common to grow up in a home with a narcissist and then go out in the world and attract narcissists and accept narcissists, that's the thing, right? So you have this whole world of narcissistic abuse around you. So by the time you enter something normal, I mean, you just don't believe it. You subconsciously are not accepting it. So you are going to find the wrong thing because there's got to be a wrong thing. There's always been a wrong thing. That can be one of the leftovers of living in an unpredictable emotional environment. The circumstances changed. Your brain is still learning. It doesn't have to do that job anymore and it can take a long time.

(06:44)
But that's why we're here to make it not take so long, to help you kind of crack through it a little faster than you might be able to without some of this knowledge or tools. So feeling on edge after narcissistic abuse doesn't necessarily mean you're walking around terrified all day. It could be, but sometimes it's more subtle. It's over explaining yourself when nobody asks you to explain. I was so guilty of that. My husband would be like, "Why are you giving like 90 reasons for something you could just say no to like an invite somewhere?" No, because we were trained to do that, because we were trained if we did not give all the explanations, a no was not good enough. Even the explanations were really never good enough, were they?

(07:36)
It's rehearsing conversations before you have them. It's immediately assuming someone's mood has something to do with you. Another huge one in general in our society. I think we assume we are the problem when 98% of the time it has nothing to do with you. Everyone's in their own shit, let's be honest. It could be apologizing constantly. My therapist the other day, I started crying. I was like, "I'm sorry, blah, blah, blah." And he's like, "You need to stop apologizing all the time." It's feeling uncomfortable saying no. It's checking people's faces, right? Oh my God. I used to always be, "Oh, I'm so intuitive. I was trained to be intuitive. Let's be real." We're all empaths. Are we? I think we are probably by nature, but also I think we become high empaths when dealing with narcissists because you have to feel and see every nuance to make sure it's going to be okay, right?

(08:50)
It's feeling guilty when you're resting. It's being suspicious when somebody is genuinely kind to you.

(08:58)
It's having trouble making simple decisions because for years, your choices were criticized, right? Do you even know what toothpaste or deodorant you'd like to use today when you're in your new life? Maybe you're past that, but often when you come out of a relationship on your own, you are so controlled that you don't even feel like you know what you want. It's thinking, what do they want me to do before you ever ask, what do I want? What do I want? And here's a big one, peace. Like I said, with my relationship, I had this and just even new friendships I developed as I got older, peace can initially feel really weird because chaos was familiar. It was comfortable. That doesn't mean you wanted it or liked it. Let's not get it twisted. It's familiar. Doesn't mean you want it. Doesn't mean you miss the narcissist.

(10:06)
Doesn't mean healthy relationships are boring. It means familiar and safe are not always the same thing. And I'll say that again. Familiar and safe are not always the same thing. And sometimes we have to give ourselves time and experiences that teach us this is what peace feels like. But here's where I don't want us to get stuck, okay? Because now that we're learning about nervous system and trauma and mind body healing, there's another trap we can fall into. We can start monitoring ourselves the same way you used to monitor them, right? Am I regulated? Was that a trauma response? Why did I react like that? Am I healed? Is my nervous system dysregulated? Did that trigger me? And suddenly we're still scanning for danger just in a different way, right? We just changed the person we're watching. So we've done enough monitoring probably for a lifetime.

(11:06)
It's exhausting. It's what has beaten up your nervous system. The goal of healing isn't to become a perfectly calm human who never gets triggered, never gets anxious and floats peacefully through whole foods like a Buddhist monk. You're a person, you'll get irritated, you have bad days, you'll misunderstand someone, you might get hurt, you might hurt someone. The goal is not perfection. Here we go, drum roll, my word of the year. The goal is freedom.

(11:39)
So how do we start teaching ourselves something different? Not by spending 12 hours a day trying to regulate our nervous system, right? You know I'm a big proponent of all these tools to help. I teach them. I'm certified in them, but that can't be your whole life either, right? But let's start living, having new experiences, being around people who are consistent, even if it feels boring at first, saying no and discovering, guess what? The world is not going to explode if you say no. The more you say no, I know it's hard for a lot of us, right? The more you do it, the more it practice. It's like desensiti... Why can't I say that word? Desensitization or exposure by expressing an opinion and realizing nobody punishes you for having one, by making a mistake and noticing nobody humiliates you, resting without earning it, by laughing like belly laughing, right?

(12:51)
Just letting loose, watching a funny movie, getting together with a friend just because by choosing, right? There's that freedom. It could be simple. I did this exercise with one of my clients where she just didn't know what she wanted in life and she was on her own and wanted to redecorate her new place and did not know where to start. So we had a little exercise. First, we did it kind of in a somatic session where she envisioned being in a store and picking things out and what color comes to mind to kind of get a color pale. Then she went into in person, into home goods and we started with just thinking about those things that came to her in the somatic session and bringing that to reality and finding a beautiful painting she loved. Freedom, that's a freedom. That's a choice she got to make and it was huge for her.

(14:00)
By enjoying things, enjoying life, slowing down and having more experiences that say, "I don't have to walk on eggshells anymore." I want you to actually experience one of those this week. Okay? So here is your little... Oh, what did I call it last week? Now I forget. Take me a while to get used to this new show, but your sparkle drop or whatever, glitter drop, I think it's glitter drop. Your glitter drop of the week, it's a quick thing, easy, 10 minute freedom experiment. Okay? Assignment, drum roll. Okay. For 10 minutes this week, I want you to do something you genuinely enjoy. And here's the catch, practice not monitoring anyone else or anything during this 10 minutes. So if you're sitting with someone, you go out to enjoy a cup of coffee or something, you don't need to figure out what mood they're in. You don't have to make sure they're okay or that they're having fun.

(15:08)
You don't need to think about if you're talking too much. Don't need to make sure everyone else is comfortable. For 10 minutes, you get to just exist.

(15:22)
So maybe drink coffee outside, maybe you blast music in your car, maybe you walk around TJ Maxx, even walk around TJ Maxx, right? Oh, should I bother this woman who is unloading the cart that works here? I want to ask a question, right? No, we're going to try to get rid of this. Obviously we want to be polite and like normal humans in the world, but we don't want to overthink. So it's going, when those questions come up, just say, "Oh, thanks for that question. That's nice, but I'm just going to do what I want and I want to ask this woman a question and not be a big deal." You want to take a class, but don't monitor other people and don't get so obsessed with how you are coming off, right?

(16:19)
So you could dance around your kitchen and not think about what if someone walks in right now or, "Ugh, I really want to lose weight. My flub's dancing around with me." None of it, right? But notice if your brain tries to pull you into, "Should I be doing something else? Is everybody okay? Am I wasting time?" And instead of fighting with that thought, come back to what you're doing. Just say, "I'm allowed to be here." Another question comes up, say, "I am going to be in the present for 10 minutes. I can think about that later." Okay?

(17:09)
So you're doing something that you want to do because you like it. Okay? And it's simple. It's 10 minutes. And if you want to be a nerd, we can have a little bonus and make a list. If you're a journaler, you don't have to, but if you want it, or you could just think about it to start rebuilding your life, rediscovering your own sense of self. Start thinking about things like what music do you like? What clothes make you feel good? What makes you laugh? Where do you want to go? What do you enjoy being around or who do you enjoy being around? What do you want your Saturday afternoon to look like? I know especially a lot of us are parents. It's all about the kids. Okay. Well, what if you thought about what you wanted for a couple hours on a Saturday, right?

(18:14)
A couple hours on a Saturday, what would I like to do if I could do anything? Might be eating bonbons in your closet. Might be saying, "Hey family, I want to go for a drive to see the beautiful fall leaves.

(18:32)
Might want to go take a painting class, whatever." They sound like tiny questions, but they're not. You're rebuilding a relationship with yourself and that is what we're doing here. We're not pretending the abuse didn't happen. We're not telling you to just move on. We're not saying understanding narcissistic abuse isn't important. It is. And we got all that in my previous episodes, but there comes a point when healing has to become about more than understanding them. You already spent enough of your life studying them, like literally the entire relationship was studying them to please them. Now, let's study you. What makes you feel alive? What makes you laugh? What makes you feel peaceful? What do you want? What do you want your life to look like now that you're not designing it around someone else's reactions all the time? That's the next chapter. I always say U 2.0 with all my clients because that's what it is.

(19:40)
It's another version of yourself, right? And you don't have to wait until you feel 100% healed to start living like that. No. No, ma'am. We're not waiting for anything anymore. You already waited the whole time you were with them under their control, and now you're still technically under control if you're not living freely and not making choices for yourself and not knowing what to do. So we're going to shift that. Start small, 10 minutes, one choice that's yours, a little piece of yourself that you can take back. That's how we're getting that spackle back, okay? One glittery piece at a time. All right? So we'll see you next week. You can always email me. My email address is always in the show notes. And if you have any questions, and also you can join my Facebook group. The link should be in the show notes.

(20:42)
And please, either in the Facebook group or email, let me know what 10 minute activity you're going to do. I'd love to hear it, okay? And I will see you in the next one. Bye.

We are back!!! Let's rebuild our lives with joy, peace and SPARKLES!

email me! Fiercemamac@gmail.com

Speaker 1 (00:03):

Hello, queens. It has been a hot, a very hot minute. I have gone through a heck of a lot. Maybe I'll do a show about that, but I want to just come back in a positive way. I did get COVID in March. It exploded my whole body, but I don't want to focus on that. And this new and improved Narcissistic Abuse Recovery 2.0 is going to be highlighting kind of just that, kind of in general, focusing on the good. And I know that can seem hard, so stay with me when you've gone through what we have gone through. But I have learned so much from actually this illness and what I was fighting before this illness, just mentally and not taking care of myself quite as much. My father had passed and then I got COVID, just a lot of stuff. But I learned so much and have changed.

(01:06)
So with that means the podcast is going to have a little shift. Nothing crazy.

(01:13)
Nothing crazy at all, right? If you've been listening to me for a while, you know we've spent a lot of time talking about narcissists, understanding them, dealing with them, setting boundaries with them. And that work is very important. But here's what I've been thinking lately. At some point, we deserve to make our healing really about us. And I've always had that and thrown that in there about rebuilding. But our happiness, our peace, our bodies, our joy, because we have given these people too much airtime. I don't even want to have them in my damn title anymore. We have given them enough air time. So we're going to shift a little bit. I am going to be mostly focusing on what you are going to do to start living your life instead of focusing so much energy on them and trying to figure them out and marinating on them and hyper-focusing on them and all the diligence overcompensating for what has happened to you and trying to fix yourself, your mind by understanding them.

(02:38)
And we have all those episodes you can go through. I've got tons of episodes on understanding them, how to deal with them. So I was like, I've said all I can say. Sure, I could repeat it in all different ways and that's not what I want to do anymore. Okay? So I'm going to touch on things like it is important to understand it, but those episodes are there. Understanding though is not the same as rebuilding your life, right? You can understand something and that doesn't change. It helps, but it doesn't change your whole situation. And something huge, what I've been learning about after prolonged stress, our bodies and minds may still remain on high alert. So even through work I have done myself, there's some background noise there. So we're going to address how to help that heal even more and that we deserve more than simply getting through the day or surviving.

(03:46)
That is not living. It's not thriving. I used to have But Still She Thrives is my title because thriving is important. And how the healing can also involve pleasure, laughter, connection, joy, feeling that sparkle again, which you know I love the sparkles, right? And we're going to go slow but impactful. So we can spend years finding out why someone treated us the way they did. But if we started spending that energy, figuring out what makes us feel amazing, focusing on our own needs, our own wants, and you'll get there. I know you might not feel like you can even get there right now. You will.

(04:34)
Then we'll be able to, and we can do that through nervous system regulation, mind body healing. This is the big thing I have been learning about in probably the last three months. Amazing stuff. Meditation, somatic practices we've already talked about here. We're going to focus more on this stuff. Rebuilding confidence, always talked about that, going to really hammer it in. Finding joy. We need those dopamine. Even if you don't feel like it, it's like do it anyway and then sometimes you have to go out not feeling great. And once you get there, you feel great. Have you ever had that happen? And creating a life that feels really good. You deserve that. So you can intellectually understand that you're safe while your body still responds as though danger is nearby. So when someone has experienced prolonged emotional stress, you guys, we become accustomed to scanning for problems.

(05:40)
And this is where the illness comes in that I'll talk about because you can stay stuck when you're already down if you are someone who's gone through abuse like we have because deep down, deep down, you're always waiting for the shoe to drop or trying to scan what's not right? How can I keep myself safe? What's wrong? Looking for problems, looking for problems because you essentially were trained to be that way. You know all about that. So even after you leave the relationship, you might notice you have difficulty relaxing, feeling guilty when you're doing something enjoyable. I have that in the way of I don't feel worthy.

(06:29)
I feel guilty in a way of when I'm not doing purpose work, I still have that issue. That's one of my biggest issues I've always struggled with is if I'm not reaching enough people, if I don't have enough clients, it's not about the money. It's not about the clout. It's about my own insecurities and feeling like I need to be doing more, which can come from this abuse cycle. Being easily startled or overwhelmed. Yes ma'am. Definitely after I gotten sick, my nervous system took a big hit. Constantly anticipating something going wrong, right? You're just like waiting for something to go wrong. If things are really good, you feel weird because you're like, oh, this can't be right. I even had that when I met my husband. I was like, there's no way. Something's off. Something's off way too nice. Likes me, treats me well. No, this can't be right.

(07:34)
And feeling disconnected from your own needs and desires because you were trained to fulfill somebody else's.

(07:43)
And that could have started with your childhood. Even if you were in a narcissistic relationship later, it could be as a result of being treated a certain way as a child. So healing isn't just about understanding what happened to you or how to deal with the narcissist. It's also about learning how to experience life differently from a different angle. So like I said, it can be gentle movement, breathing, exercise, music is a big one for me, grounding and enjoyable experiences to support your recovery. Okay? So let's rename this together. Right here right now, I'm thinking of every week I want to do just a fun reset. We're just going to do sparkly... Oh, I was doing a YouTube video this morning and I said something.

(08:48)
It was like give glitter. So maybe this can be your glitter of the day kind of thing, but glitter of the week. All right. I'm going to have to think about this separately. And then also you can always email me. My email should be in the show notes. FiercemamaC@gmail if you have ideas for names. Either sparkle or glitter, something catchy. Okay?This just like weekly glitter. It's going to be fun, uplifting. We're not going to suffer anymore. We're not letting them take anything from us anymore. We get to respond. It's not what happens to us. It's how we respond and we're going to start sparkling one sparkle at a time as I always say. So let's see. First, and you can save this for later if you're driving or something, but if you're right there, let's just loosen up, relax your jaw, drop your shoulders. Seriously girl, they're not earrings.

(09:49)
Your shoulders are not earrings. They don't need to be up on your ear lobes, okay? Drop them.

(09:57)
Now feel your feet on the floor. I'm doing it with you right now. I'm getting up. I was sitting on the floor doing this. Okay? Taking my shoes off. Got naked feet, naked sparkly feet on the ground. The rug counts. I don't care. I was thinking that earlier today. I'm like, does concrete count because I don't want to step in these bugs. I don't know what's in that soil, right? There's anxiety for you. I'm like, fine, I'm just going to do it on concrete. So I concrete grounded this morning. Now I'm doing the rug. Do it with me. Okay?

(10:33)
Okay. Now feel your feet on the floor. Look around your space. Notice three things you can see. Three things. And really look at them for like five seconds each. Observe their texture, their color, how they make you feel. Maybe a fun memory is attached. Okay. And look at your third item. Kind of breathe it in and just be with it. Okay? Okay. Now ask yourself something we sometimes forget to ask when we've spent so much time focused on someone else's needs. What would feel good for me today? What would feel good for me today? I don't know why. For me, I just saw a cup of tea and a blanket.

(11:54)
The answers are in us. You just got to ask, girl. You just got to ask. Not what you should do, not what's on your to-do list, not what someone else expects of you or what you have to do for someone. What would genuinely bring you a little peace or joy? Maybe it's putting on your favorite song, dancing. I'm dancing right now. I'm shaking my hips. I love dancing. Dancing. Maybe it's making a YouTube video. Maybe it's baking. Maybe it's reading an old book you love to your kid. Maybe it's doing your makeup just to do it for fun.

(12:41)
Maybe it's going to TJ Maxx, girl, 1999. Calling a friend. I encourage you to choose one small thing and actually do it. Don't say, "Oh yeah, that'd be nice, like me and my tea." No, this day will not end without me drinking tea. Okay? Have your sparkle moment, your glitter something. We got to name this something good. It'd be so fun. I'm very big on words. So sometimes rebuilding your life starts with remembering that your happiness matters too. Okay? So for next week, next episode, maybe we'll do a little... I'm trying to think. This is all, I didn't plan on doing this, but I got a few episodes up my sleeve. I know people will want to hear. So maybe why you still feel on edge after narcissistic abuse, right?

(14:17)
How to feel safe in your body again, the guilt of being happy after abuse, finding your sparkle again, like all this, right? Like reconnecting with who you were before, before this shiz happened. Maybe some somatic healing. Okay? But next week, I think we'll start with how to feel safe in your body again. I think that's really important. Okay? So don't forget to subscribe, hit follow, subscribe, whatever, on whatever podcast platform you are on. Okay? And I want you to remember something, okay? You are so much more than what happened to you. You're not just someone who survived narcissistic abuse. That is not your identity. You are a whole, beautiful, complicated, we can be complicated, but we're fabulous. Fabulous, queen, with dreams, desires, and a whole lot of life left to live. And that's what this next chapter's about. Less obsessing over what they did or why they did it or why I feel this way.

(15:48)
I mean, we can touch on those things. I've touched on them if you want to go, but don't sit in that hole. We are climbing out of the hole because life is short and how do you want to spend it? Do you want to spend it in your mind trying to figure everything out all the time? That's what I did with this illness. That's why this comparison is amazing to me, seeing the parallels.

(16:19)
Still nobody knows exactly what's wrong with me. I've spent seven months trying to be my own doctor, therapist, everything. It has been absolute hell and I want to live again. So it's very similar, just a different chapter of the same book, right? So less obsessing over all of that stuff, more discovering what makes you feel alive and actually living it because we're not just surviving, right? You don't have to just survive. You go and get your sparkle back. We are going to get our sparkle back. Okay? I haven't gone out with friends in seven months. I mean, I barely... I go on outings. I push myself to just go walk around the shops or whatever with my family. Barely done anything though. No big group things. I get overwhelmed easily. It's been hell, but I want my sparkle back. So I'm actually talking to a therapist now.

(17:30)
He's awesome. And I was telling him I just get overwhelmed and there's this Halloween party I got invited to, but I just don't know. And he was like, "Queen?" No, he didn't say queen, but I should train him to, huh? No, but he said, "Well..." Oh, what he did, this was actually really smart. He said, "Go look at pictures." I said I went last year. He said, "Go look at pictures of last year's." So I did, and I ended up tearing up, getting all sad. He's like, "What's coming up?" And I was like, "I miss her. I miss me. I miss that." And he was like, "Well, you have the opportunity to live it again this weekend, so you can make that choice. Even if you don't feel as good as you did a year ago, you can choose to do that and see what happens." So we have to make choices.

(18:31)
Not like this is all easy, but I do believe in the mind-body connection. I am going to talk a lot about that. If you don't know what that is, you soon will.

(18:44)
How the mind really can create physical symptoms, mental symptoms. Not saying any of the symptoms I had were not very real and caused by COVID, but staying kind of stuck and hyper-focusing and whatever can make things worse. I don't know if that's the situation or not, but it definitely can't make them better. So the mind-body healing is really about living your life, not focusing on the things, not Googling, not going... And you can use it for healing from something like you all have gone through, right? So we're going to get our sparkle back together. We're going to be a bright ass group of ladies, queens, very shiny, so bring your sunglasses. And this is painful. I get it, but that doesn't mean we have to sit in the pain. How do you want to feel, right? We're going to get you there. So I'm glad to be back and we're going to figure out a fun name for our weekly sparkle and glitter all over the world, shine bright like a diamond.

(20:20)
And I look forward to hearing from you guys. Feel free to email me. And yeah, we got a lot of fun to have. Bye queens.

If you can’t seem to let go—even when you know they’re wrong for you—you might not be in love… you might be trauma bonded. In this episode, we break down 5 clear signs you’re stuck in a trauma bond and why it feels so intense, confusing, and hard to walk away. This is about clarity, not shame—so you can finally start breaking free.

💖 Work With Christy

✨ Ready for real-time transformation?
Step into your power with Christy 1:1. Her 3-Month Transformational Coaching + Somatic Healing package helps you regulate your nervous system, rebuild self-trust, and feel safe in your own skin again.
👉 https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/transformational-coaching-quarterly/

🎁 Fun Queen Resources

💌 Join the Free Private Facebook Community — connect with other Queens rebuilding after narcissistic abuse.
👉 https://www.facebook.com/groups/narcissisticabuserecoverypodcast

👑 Grab Your Free Boundaries Pocket Guide — learn how to say nope without guilt.
👉 https://christyjade.ck.page/ce79ea9250

💬 Copy-Paste-Peace Scripts — ready-made boundary phrases that protect your peace.
👉 https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/copy-paste-peace-scripts/

TRANSCRIPTS Speaker 1 (00:00):

If you ever said, "I know they're bad for me, so why can't I let them go? " This episode might change everything because what if it's not really love at all? Welcome to your Thursday Thrive In Five, your five minute pause from the chaos, the gaslighting, and that text you knew better than to reply to. Take a breath queen, this one's for you. Hello, hello my queens. How are you? It has been, I don't know, let's look at the date. Over two months, I believe, since I've had a new fresh episode. I got COVID for the first time ever and it reactivated my mono that I had in my twenties that just stays there looking cute in your body for decades. I'm 46, sorry. I also had a birthday during this horrendous time. I ended up in the hospital. I had heart issues. I am now on a ... This is all TMI, but you know who I am.

(01:15)
I'm like queen of TMI. I have to take a heart medicine, hopefully not forever, a beta blocker because my heart rate just would not settle. Basically it threw my nervous system into chaos and even the queen of somatoculin couldn't comment the hell down and I couldn't sleep so I am on a little sleep sedative. And again, hopefully I can come off of all these, but for now they're keeping me in check, but I was almost like bedridden other than a few things here and there for two months. So my body, I'm like just crawling out of a deep ... It's like I've been in a bunker, but it feels like it was for a year. The body atrophies quicker than you fucking think. That's what I've learned here.

(02:11)
So that being said, I have les energy. I am fatigued still, not like to the extent I was and it's hard knowing what is recovery and what's just like reconditioning my body. So I will spare the rest of the details, but I'm crawling out of the hole and I know some of you checked on me. Thank you very much. Sorry if I didn't get back to all of you on messages and stuff. It's been a wild ride, but I've missed doing my podcast. So here we are and before all this happened, I planned on doing a series basically on trauma, trauma bonding, stuff like that. So today we're starting this new series and we're talking about something that keeps so many women stuck longer than they need to be, these trauma bonds. And before you go, "Oh yeah, heard that term." Right? It's kind of like a buzzword.

(03:10)
I want you to stay with me because most people do not fully understand what this actually feels like in real life because it doesn't feel like just straight trauma. It can feel like love, like chemistry, like connection. It feels like, but we had something special, right? So today I'm going to walk you through five signs. You are trauma bonded, not in love. And I want you to gently notice what resonates with you. No shame, no judgment, no kicking yourself.This happens to a lot of people with narcissists because they're really good at what they do. Okay? Just be aware. So sign one. You can't let go even when you know better. Okay This is a big one. Logically you know this person hurt you or continues to hurt you. This relationship was unhealthy. You deserve better. Maybe you don't think you do. Some people aren't there, but maybe you do.

(04:18)
And yet you still miss them. You still think about them. You still feel pulled back or get pulled back into their shit, into their chaos, right? That is not you being weak. That is your nervous system being conditioned. So a trauma bond is literally created through cycles of emotional highs and lows. Your brain gets hooked on the relief after the pain. Hear that again. Yo brain gets hooked on the relief it feels after the pain. So you're not like ... Some people are like, "Oh, you're addicted to chaos. You're addicted to the abuse." You hear all these things, right? Like you're addicted to bad boys who actually have been conditioned and are addicted to the relief after the bad things that they put you through or the hurt, which is a cycle, right? The abuse cycle. It is a cycle. So you're not crazy. You're conditioned.

(05:22)
Number two, sign two, the highs felt addictive. So let's talk about those good moments and this really reminds me of a relationship I had long ago with a narcissist and I always joked, but ha ha, not so funny. It was like Eminem and Kim. And I don't think it was to that extent, thank God. But those highs were so high and this is what keeps the bond alive. When it was good, girl, it felt really good. They're charming. They can be attentive and loving. Maybe everything you wanted or dreamed of. Maybe you wrote down what you wanted and they were it in those high moments. And your brain goes, see, that's who they are. It's in there. I saw it. But here's the truth. That version of them is just part of the cycle. The high only exists because of the low and your brain gets addicted to chasing that high again.

(06:34)
Okay.

(06:37)
Sign number three, you find yourself blaming yourself more than them. This one hits deep. You find yourself thinking, well, maybe I overreacted or maybe I'm sensitive because they probably have told you you're sensitive or you overreact or you're just crazy. Or maybe I pushed them away. Maybe it was how I dealt with relationships. Maybe I'm not seeing it. Or maybe if I just handled things better, it would've worked or they would've been better to me or they wouldn't have hurt me or they wouldn't have had to be how they were because I was how I was. No. They were the ones causing the chaos. This is just what happens when you've been gaslit, right? Yo brain starts turning inward instead of seeing clearly outward like a healthy brain does. So instead of saying they hurt me, you say, "What's wrong with me? " Does that sound familiar?

(07:45)
Instead of saying, "They hurt me. " Saying that out loud. You say, "What's wrong with me? " Or, "What did I do? " Or, "Why did I do this? " It starts to go inward. Okay? Sign number four.

(08:06)
We can all relate to this one. You feel anxiety more than peace. Real love, the healthy kind that I now have with my husband and you can get as well for just 1999 on QVC. No, but you can. Don't worry. There's still hope. Okay. There is healthy laveta there. It feels steady. Trauma bonding feels like this. Walking on eggshells. Waiting for the next shift up or down. Overanalyzing text messages or what they said or what they didn't say. Feeling relief, then dread, then relief again. Is that familiar? The emotional whiplash and your body knows it. That tight chest, the short breath, you're spinning mind ruminating all the time. Get stuck thinking, thinking, thinking. That is not healthy love. That is your nervous system in what we call survival mode. Whether you are going through physical, emotional, spiritual, financial abuse, any, all of the above, your nervous system is reacting.

(09:45)
Sign number five. You confuse intensity with connection. This one is important. They're all important. But man, that intensity can take over. This one's huge. Huge, huge. Okay. You think we had something so deep, something like I've never had before, something I'll never get again. By the way, that's actually a good thing. I remember thinking that with that relationship like, "Oh, I'll never have these highs again. I don't want those highs again because guess what? With those highs come very low lows." But what you actually had was intensity, not intimacy and there is a difference, right? Intensity is fast bonding, right? They love bomb you right away. They adore you. They say everything you wish you would've heard from everyone always. Oh my gosh, there's finally this man or woman who knows how to show love and they're not afraid to show it. And I feel special.

(11:03)
Big emotions. Intensity is big emotions, right? And very high highs, but what? Class, what comes with those highs? Low lows. Yes. Intimacy is what? And this is what you need to really hear. This is what I have with my husband. Safety. Consistency. I think I'll bold that one in my mind. Consistency. I will tell you right now there are no narcissists out there that are consistent and I can put my stamp on that. Okay? And intimacy is calm. Are you going to have a thousand percent agreement all of the time? No. But overall, if you're zoomed out looking at a pattern of a healthy relationship and love, you are going to feel safe. You're going to feel like you're on the same team. You're going to feel consistent energy and emotion. And overall, you're going to feel a calm, a comfort in this relationship like I do.

(12:26)
I feel like I'm so certain of my relationship. There's never any question. It's just like it's stable. That's a good word for it too. Stable. I can lean on my relationship. I know it's there. I know it's not going anywhere. I know that I'm safe, emotionally safe in it, physically safe in it, mentally safe in it, financially safe in it. Unless I go play some blackjack. Just kidding. All right. If it didn't feel calm, it wasn't secure. If you're listening to this, you're probably in a very insecure relationship or maybe still are and you know my advice. Listen to the other apps and get out. You deserve so much better and there is so much better out there. Sometimes we may ... I did feel like I deserved more at a point when I was with that ex that was a narky narc.

(13:26)
I kind of knew I deserved more. He'd make me question myself, of course. But part of me was more like, "But then why does it feel so good when it's good? Like that can't be normal. I'll never find that again." And I'm telling you, that type of good is not the good you want. And I'm not saying I don't have high highs with my husband. We have extra fun times or we laugh a lot together, but there's a difference between that crazy almost out of this world high that is unfortunately balanced with the very low lows.

(14:13)
So you don't need more willpower to pull out of this situation to either not get pulled back or just you're struggling just moving forward, even if you're not going back to them or in touch with them, just emotionally and healing and going back to your thoughts, right? They can still have you mentally, even if you're not with them physically or emotionally. They can still have your fucking brain. I know, honey. I've been there. Okay? You don't need more willpower. You need nervous system support. You need clear boundaries and you need the truth over and over and over again, because your truth has been unraveled.

(15:04)
And once you see the real of the pattern, you can start breaking it. Okay? So if this episode hit you and you're realizing, oh, this is deeper than I thought, you don't have to do this alone. This is exactly what I help women do. Break trauma bonds, regulate their emotions, and finally feel free again. And all the ways to work with me are in the show notes. So pick your poison. Just kidding. Let's chat. And if you're in a place and this is for not the women who are trying to get out of these situations, the women who I work with are disconnected. That is a requirement and you must be disconnected from the relationship. Okay? So you've got to be disconnected already. You can't be living with your narcissist person. You are on the other side, you're seeing the patterns and you're going, "Okay, I know I can do this.

(16:12)
I want to do this. I want to move on with my life. I've already made steps to be away from them, but I feel stuck mentally. So Christie, I need your help." That is the women that work with me so we can step forward and up and out and fly like fly. Okay? So next we're going to talk about why trauma bonds feel like an addiction and how to actually start breaking them. So definitely hit the follow button or whatever. I don't even know what it says on there, whatever podcast platform you are on to follow my podcast so you start getting all of my lovely episodes again because this is going to be a very epic series if I don't say so myself. I'm not biased at all. All right. Thank you so much for joining. I have missed you guys and you can always feel free to email me.

(17:20)
My email is always in the show notes and just say hello or tell me about your situation, just whatever. I love talking to my people. So send me a little note and I hope you all have a fabulous day and you deserve healthy love and a healthy mind that can get unstuck from this boo shit because that's all it is. It's just a little bullshit. All right. I'll see you in the next episode on Thursday. Bye.

Still replaying every convo, text, or mind game—trying to make sense of the narcissist? In this 5-minute reset, Christy Jade shows you how to break the brain loop that keeps you obsessed with understanding them and finally reclaim your peace. Learn how trauma trains your mind to overanalyze—and the simple somatic shift that ends the cycle for good.

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🎁 Fun Queen Resources

💌 Join the Free Private Facebook Community — connect with other Queens rebuilding after narcissistic abuse.
👉 https://www.facebook.com/groups/narcissisticabuserecoverypodcast

👑 Grab Your Free Boundaries Pocket Guide — learn how to say nope without guilt.
👉 https://christyjade.ck.page/ce79ea9250

💬 Copy-Paste-Peace Scripts — ready-made boundary phrases that protect your peace.
👉 https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/copy-paste-peace-scripts/

Speaker 1 (00:03):

Welcome to your Thursday, thrive in five, your five minute pause from the chaos, the gaslighting, and that text you knew better than to reply to take a breath Queen. This one's for you. All right, take a deep breath today, queen. Happy Thursday. This thrive in five is for the woman who cannot stop replaying all the conversations, the manipulations, every, why did he do that? Why is he doing that? Whether it's your past or current situation that you are having to deal with a narcissist. Maybe you're, maybe it's a family member, maybe it's your boss, but understanding the narcissist will not bring you peace, and we think it will, right? We try to understand to relieve something in us, but your brain keeps dragging you back, even though deep down you probably know, you'll never fully understand and comprehend a narcissist because they don't make sense in the same way we do.

(01:18)
They don't think the same way we do. They're not healthy people. So let's shift that today. So here's the thing, your brain is not broken. It's doing what it was actually trained to do, to analyze danger, to stay safe by being in the situations. So when you lived in a narcissistic environment, you became a detective. You were constantly decoding, tone, expression, hidden meanings. Are you shaking your head yet? Because your survival basically depended on it. So now that you're free, your brain doesn't realize it can stop working overtime. That's the loop. The body's addiction to this vigilance disguised as logic. It's not logic, it's vigilance. It's over vigilance, right? So let's get to today's practice. It's a calming quick one, and we are going to calm that beautiful brain of yours that deserves every piece. So wherever you are, gently place one hand on your heart and one on your belly. You're going to inhale through your nose for 4, 3, 2, 1. Hold for one, two, and exhale, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Now you can repeat after me. I am safe.

(03:17)
I don't need to understand them to be free. How's that feel? So as you exhale, imagine the thoughts spinning in your head, melting down into your body and out through your feet. So we're going to inhale, 1, 2, 3, hold it. And as you exhale, imagine those thoughts that just whine and whine melting down your body and out your feet. Let your body carry what your mind can't. So if you want to repeat that a couple times, you can always pause this. Do it as many times as you need to, and each time, remind yourself, I choose peace over answers.

(04:24)
You get to choose, and it might seem hard, but every time you do this, you get closer. Every time you do anything somatic, you really get closer to it so you don't heal by finding new information about them. That's what we think. You heal by giving your nervous system proof that the danger is over. I'm going to say that again. You heal by giving your nervous system proof that this danger is over. And I know everyone's situation is different, but most of you are on the other side getting out of the situation. You've left your co-parenting or you're not living with the person every day like you once were. That could be a parent, a sibling, an ex, right? So this is really for you that knowing you are out of imminent danger and you need your nervous system to come on board with that. So every time you redirect from analyzing them to soothing yourself, you're rewiring your brain for peace. And that is the power they never want you to have, right?

(05:56)
Ugh. It would just kill them to know you're at peace. They want you all up in the chaos with them. They want the control of your peace. They want to hold your peace and never let you have it. And we're not here for that. Are we Queens? No. So if you're ready to learn the deeper somatic tools, this is just the tiny tip, right? This is what I can do on these podcasts. I can give you as much as I can give you and I try. But to really do the deeper transformation and use those tools that really go in deep and are longer lasting to stop those mental spirals and actually feel safe in your own body. You can do that by working one-on-one with me, and that is where the real rewiring happens. I always have the link in my show notes of the podcast.

(06:50)
So if you're on Apple, you go to my main page there, or this episode description, I'll have it there as well. It's all over my podcast. And that is where the magic happens. And if you're not there yet, keep taking these five minutes for you. Your piece is rebuilding itself every single time you choose it. Saying out loud, like I'm serious, saying things out loud is so helpful for our brains and bodies to connect, to catch up with each other saying, I'm choosing peace. Or what is the most peaceful choice I can make right now? When you're in those situations where you're like, I don't know what to do, what is the most peaceful choice for me? What's the most peaceful choice for my child if you have a child, right? I get it, I get it. That also it can swing the other way where we just, we want to show them or we want to, they're acting crazy and we feel like we need to meet them where they're at. No, we need to be the peace.

(07:59)
I get the justice part, trust me, my middle name, my whole life was seeking justice all around. And then once I realized what a narcissist was and how manipulative they were, and I had one in my life, I was like, oh, I'm going to show them that I'm onto them and this and that, and I did. And I learned the hard way. That's not actually how you win with narcissist. Winning is having peace and doing the work that you are no longer affected by them. It's not overnight, but it can happen and it can happen quicker than you think, which is beautiful. Ask my clients. Okay? So take one more deep breath queen. Inhale and release. And remember, your freedom doesn't live in their story and their narrative and their bullshit. It lives in your body that you get to choose, you get control of to say, I'm going to do X, Y, Z.

(09:05)
What's that? X, Y, Z. I hope it's peace. You look way better in peace than you do in chaos. Okay? Alright, so don't forget to follow this podcast. Share it if you think it would help someone else. Of course, if you want that deep transformation, I do have two spots open for the next three months, I believe. So grab a spot if you want one. And remember it's every Tuesday and Thursday we have Tuesday are the longer episodes. We dive deep talking about doing the talkie talk, and then the Thursdays are thrive in five where we try to do a little more of the somatic stuff, little exercises and tools that you can take with you. Alright, I'll see you in the next video. Smooches love yous and keep cleaning.

Empowered Boundaries Course

https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/empowered-boundaries/ EMAIL ME! fiercemamac@gmail.com TRANSCRIPT:
Speaker 1: (00:00)
Huh, that's me being creepy, but also me introducing what we are going to talk about today, which is breath work. What are the benefits of breath work for people who are looking to heal? Stay close and you will find out,

Speaker 1: (00:18)
Hey Queens, welcome to, but still she thrives. Do you wanna stop getting caught up in that wicked web of a creepy crawling narcissist? You find yourself up late at night replaying the abuse you put up with and wondering how you can heal now. Do you wake up hoping for healthy relationships and peace only to feel totally exhausted? And mind F girl, I see you, I'm Christie. I too had to disconnect from toxic people in my life and I wished I could undo the damage I felt ashamed, lonely and kind of lost. But I'm a stubborn Italian and I refuse to give up. I found ways to recalibrate my mind and embody more quickly than I thought and can now share them with you. In this podcast, you will find coping tools, healing methods, and confidence boosters so you can trust yourself and find peace and freedom. So shields up ladies, let's go protect our peace.

Speaker 1: (01:15)
I was introduced to breath work during the global pandemic of 2020 when I think we all needed some breath work. Uh, it was good timing. Yes, I was introduced to that and it really can be life changing and there's so much more to it than you would think. There's all sorts of types of practices. That was all a lot of words to say. Different practices for breath work, just different patterns, different ways you can use it from physical healing to mental and emotional and spiritual healing. There's just a lot of jam pack goodness up in the breath work world. I have done some breath work with my clients and I am getting certified to not only do breath work but all sorts of fun somatic healing therapies. So I'll be talking about that more. But I also wanna get to the point of this episode and dive in.

Speaker 1: (02:13)
So what does breath work do? Breath work refers to various practices that involve conscious control and manipulation of our breath, right? And we do this to achieve specific outcomes, like I said, that can be physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. So while individual experience can vary, these are five ways in general which breath work can potentially contribute to your healing on this lovely healing journey you are on. Number one, stress reduction. And this is big. This is a big one. We want stress reduction when we're going through the healing journey. We don't need extra stress, we need a lot less. So this is a great way. So deep and rhythmic breathing activates what is called, and you may have heard of this I've mentioned a couple times in some of my episodes. But parasympathetic nervous system, right? And this promotes relaxation and reduces the effects of the body stress response, which is normal in our everyday lives.

Speaker 1: (03:17)
But we can use this breathing to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. And this can lead to lower levels of cortisol. I've heard that word thrown around a lot. It is the stress hormone and this can help lower it and get you to a calmer state of mind, which will help alleviate all the symptoms with stress related crap, right? We, we know all the feelings, the racing heart, the sweating, the nervousness, the worry, all of that can totally be helped just by deep and rhythmic breathing. That's why they do it during labor. Number two, improved mental clarity. This was like the icing on the cake for me. So focused and intentional breathing can enhance mental clarity and concentration. So increasing this flow of oxygen to the brain with, again, there's different patterns we can use for different things, but increasing that flow of oxygen can improve the cognitive function and help all of us gain better control over our thoughts and reduce that mental fog.

Speaker 1: (04:30)
Can I get a what? What for the perimenopause women of the world right now? Or a menopausal mental fog is a thing. I'm starting to get it. I'm not loving it so I'm gonna start doing a little more breath work around that. But it enhances the overall mental wellbeing. So I am loving this benefit. Number three, emotional release breath work can provide a very cathartic release of those pent up emotions. Certain techniques encourage the expression and release of those stored emotions letting us process and let go of the burdens we carry, right? This can be particularly beneficial for those dealing with trauma. We know about trauma if we're in that narcissistic world, which if you're on here, you may be anxiety in general or grief And grief is a huge one. And around the holidays it can be really, really hard if you have been grieving someone or you just grieve have had to grieve anyone or a loss of a relationship, even that can be considered a grief, right?

Speaker 1: (05:40)
So it's releasing all of these things and breath work can kind of release that, you know? And it's just like that bottled up. Like you feel like you're gonna explode and you hold it in and this is a way to let it out without screaming and crying and punching a pillow. , you just gotta breathe girl. Um, no, but I do like this one. This is like a great way to, when you're kind of just feeling overwhelmed with emotions, it's a really good way to release it in a healthy way. Not saying that screaming a punching a pillow is not healthy. I mean that is a way you can do it too. Just don't punch anybody or something that could hurt your hand. Okay, number four, enhanced mind and body connection. So breath work often emphasizes that connection between the mind and the body. I am big on this.

Speaker 1: (06:35)
I'm always saying get out of your mind and into your body because they are connected. But sometimes we have to know when to lean into which one. As humans, especially as women, especially as women who have gone through some shunt, we can get so stuck in our mind and our thoughts. So through this mindful breathing, we can become more aware of the physical sensations, our emotions, and our thought patterns. And this increases our awareness for a greater sense of self-awareness, knowing what's going on with all parts of us and a deeper connection between that mental and the physical, right? So why I was talking about the whole leaning on one side versus the other is the more self-aware you are of where your thoughts are, right? Like, oh wow, I'm really in my head right now. Maybe I need to glide over into my body focusing on that breath.

Speaker 1: (07:38)
Maybe you start doing, there's other somatic practices you can do like grounding or just tracking different things going on with your physical body. You can start rubbing your hands together, getting out of your head and into your body will change how you are, you know, basically functioning because you're going from inside of those thoughts and the mind racing and putting it into the the physical body, which is a great place to be when you're trying to calm your nervous system down. Last but not least, regulation of the autonomic nervous system. So again, these various breath work techniques such as diaphragmatic breathing, which is through your diaphragm, very focused on breathing in and out of the diaphragm and paced breathing. I do a lot of that with my clients can influence that part of the nervous system. And this can lead to a better balance between this sympathetic, which is that fight or flight.

Speaker 1: (08:40)
You know what I mean? I'm always the fight person. Unfortunately if something's coming at me, I'm going right back at it, right? But there's also that flight side. I have a friend they actually used to call us fight and flight. I was always like, what is it? I'll take care of it. I'll protect y'all. Little scrappy do as my husband calls me and my friend was flight, like she just doesn't like anything that's just not totally calm. It freaks her out and she shuts down. So she just disappear. Like you'd be like, where did she go? Where did that woman go? And then I'm there with my scrappy dupal, right? But that's the sympathetic part of the system. And then the S parasympathetic is the rest and digest. So these are the branches of that nervous system. So this balance is crucial for your overall health.

Speaker 1: (09:34)
So you've got to be having a balance of both of these helping to reduce, get this, y'all get this helps reduce chronic inflammation, which is one of the biggest part of our modern world as like as far as health goes, there's so much inflammation from diet, from stress. That nervous system, when it is all crazy and chaotic, it throws our system off and it causes chronic inflammation. So this can help promote the healing process within the body. And I think that's freaking epic and I love it. And I love this work. I'm so excited to be getting deeper into this myself as I go through my certification. So I can definitely touch on this stuff I do with my clients. Like I said, if you want to work with me, do some coaching, do some breath breathwork, do other modalities of energy healing, please look at the different packages I have in my show notes.

Speaker 1: (10:36)
And also you can always email me at fierce Mama C at Gmail, that is in my show notes as well. And breathwork really is a great supplement if you're in therapy, if you're doing coaching, if you're just on a healing journey trying out different things to see what works best for you, it's a great thing to explore. And with like talk therapy coaching, it's really a good, good supplement to get the healing from the body out. Almost that sounded weird like where we we're a weird transformer, but all the talking and coaching and motivation, like there is a lot of great things happening there. I see it with my own clients, but I wanted to start adding this deeper layer so we can also in parallel be really going deep and heal from the inside out while we are doing a little of the coaching therapy.

Speaker 1: (11:25)
So I'm so excited to be kind of doing the shift. So any feedback from you guys on things you would like to see me cover on here on this podcast, please email me again in the show notes. Um, and a reminder, if you have health concerns, please consult with your doctor before incorporating breath work into your practice just to make sure you're all good. If you're a typical healthy person, obviously you wanna go in slow and you don't wanna do the, the really deep fast breaths like right away. In my experience, I did that right away. 'cause I'm always like, look at me, I'm gonna jump in everything I do. I like to like really dive in and I did a little too fast. I didn't like pass out or anything, but I was like, I think that I feel a little bit lightheaded. So definitely go in slow, work your way up.

Speaker 1: (12:16)
If you're a typical healthy individual, if you do have health issues, talk to your doctor about how you can make breath work, work for you. There's definitely ways to do it. It's just gonna probably be slower, the pacing, maybe building up very slowly, but that is not my specialty. So I would like you to check in with your doctor if you do have those special health conditions. Okie dokie. Anyway, I love you guys. I'm so excited for, I don't know, life . No, I'm excited to introduce you to this modality. If you have not heard of it before. Most most of us have heard of breathing. That's a thing. But breath work as in really being a healing tool. I'm just, I'm just so excited and fascinated by how beneficial it can be. So I will talk to you in the next episode of, but still Sheath Rises. Let's Hands to Heart It. We're gonna do a couple affirmations here. If you're on the road, do not put your hands on your heart, please keep 'em on the wheel unless you're in an Uber . All right, let's take a deep breath in through the nose and out one more through the nose and out.

Speaker 1: (13:36)
I can heal myself. Repeat after me. I am healing every day. Last one, KA, I'm a queen. Alright, Queens, I love you. Keep that chin up. You are doing an amazing job. It is holiday season if you're listening to this live, and the narcissists come out full-blown. So be prepared. Let me know if you need my support, message me or sign up for one of my packages and I'll talk to you soon. Smooches Andes.

5-Minute Reset for When You Feel Pulled Back Into the Trauma Bond

If you’ve ever felt that magnetic pull to check their page… or that instant surge of anxiety when their name pops up — this quick episode is for you.

In this Thrive in 5, Christy Jade guides you through a powerful five-minute reset to help calm your nervous system, stop the obsessive thoughts, and get your peace back — fast.

Because you don’t need to text, check, or fix. You just need to breathe, reset, and remember your crown. 👑

Your Next Step in Healing

✨ Ready to rebuild your peace, power, and self-trust after narcissistic abuse?
Explore Christy’s most transformative programs below:

🌸 Empowered Boundaries Course
Learn how to set boundaries that actually stick — without the guilt spiral. Includes 10 video modules, a meditation bundle, and lifetime access.
→ https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/empowered-boundaries/

💖 1:1 Coaching + Somatic Healing
Reclaim your peace, power, and clarity in a private, guided journey with Christy. This is where REAL customized transformation is made! Save money when you sign up for 6 and 12 month!
3-Month Coaching Container → https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/transformational-coaching-quarterly/
6-Month Coaching Container → https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/6-month-queens-of-peace-program/
12-Month Coaching Container → https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/12-month-queens-of-peace-program/

💌 Resources for Your Healing Journey

✨ Grab your FREE Boundaries Pocket Guide → https://christyjade.ck.page/ce79ea9250
✨ Join the FREE Facebook Community for daily support + sisterhood → https://www.facebook.com/groups/christyjade
✨ Snag your Copy-Paste-Peace Scripts for boundary convos that actually work → https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/copy-paste-peace-fast-37/

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Queen, are you feeling that magnetic pull to check their page, getting that spike of anxiety when their name pops up? Whatever it is, you're not regressing, okay? Your nervous system is just having a little flare up in this Thrivent five, I'm going to walk you through a quick emotional reset to get you back to calm, clear, and crowned. Of course, shine it up. Welcome to your Thursday, thrive in five, your five minute pause from the chaos, the gaslighting, and that text you knew better than to reply to take a breath queen. This one's for you.

(00:45)
Alright? You're not crazy for still feeling that pull. Okay? Whether that looks like you're questioning things that happened, wondering if you made a mistake, wondering why you even did this. What did you feeling like guilt around it? All right? What happened to me? How did this happen? How did I even get here? And get there and get everywhere? Okay? Your brain built highways to respond to their chaos and healing means building detours, right? So today we're going to walk one of those detours together, okay? So stop what you're doing. If you're driving, you might want to save this for later and go back to it when you get to your destination, when you have a few minutes of quiet. So if you are in a quiet space, stop what you're doing. Take a breath. All right? Now focus on where your feet are grounded. You can stand up, sit down, but try to ground your feet on whatever floor you have beneath you. Okay? Take one. Slow inhale through your nose, 1, 2, 3, 4, and exhale through your mouth, six counts, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And repeat after me out loud. I am safe in this moment.

(02:21)
Okay? That one sentence tells your body, we are not in danger anymore or we're not in danger right now. So now move something. You can shake out your hands and your arms. You can roll your shoulders back. I love that. I love a good neck roll. Stretch your neck, side to side. Whatever feels best to you. This is your body reset, queen. It's your time to decide, right? It's time for you to get some decisions in this life. Alright? Now imagine the leftover tension leaving your body with every exhale. Okay? So let's say you're rolling your shoulders, just roll back and every time you reach a certain spot, imagine just releasing tension, releasing that tension out of your body, okay?

(03:18)
Are actually releasing the chemical residue of the trauma bond, the cortisol, the hyper vigilance you're very familiar with, right? So you can always pause this if you want, feel like you need a little extra or just go through the rest of the exercise with all of us, okay? So you've shaken at your hands, rolled your shoulders, your neck, whatever. Felt good. Now we're going to reframe, okay? So repeat after me again. And if you are someone who is missing this person, this is for you. And if not, we'll get to you. Don't worry. Okay? Missing them doesn't mean I made a mistake. Missing them doesn't mean I made a mistake. You're repeating after me, okay? Now, if you're wondering why you still are getting sucked in by them, why you're still responding, even when you know shouldn't, doesn't mean you want to be with them or you miss them. This can mean that you're still craving the chaos. Okay? So repeat after me. I'm craving the chaos, not the person. Let's make that clear. I'm craving the chaos, not the person.

(04:42)
Okay? Now, this will be basically for everybody. We're covering everyone here, okay? Because if you listen to Tuesday's episode, if not, you need to listen to that. But if you did already, we talked about peace not being as exciting as the chaos, right? Those ups and downs, highs and lows, dopamine hits. Peace is a little more consistent, which is great. Stable, which is great, but it can feel boring, especially when you are used to those spikes. So it might feel boring. But boring is when you know you're healing. You need this, okay? So remind yourself, repeat after me. Peace might feel boring, but boring is healing. Peace might be boring, but boring is healing. So every time you reframe it like that, you weaken that old wiring, that chaos is love. That this addiction to the dopamine is fun and great. It's not. It's stanky.

(05:52)
Okay? Now let's get a little sparkle return. Okay? Close your eyes. Picture your gold shiny crown. Okay? That glowing reminder that you belong to yourself. Now you're not under the thumb of that narcissist. Inhale golden light. Exhale the residue of their energy. Ugh. Get it away. Get it away. Inhale your light. If you're a God person, that can be God's light. Exhale, the negative energy that is no longer yours doesn't serve you. Goodbye. Okay, now smile. Even if it's a tiny one, even if it's a little bitty smile, that's your nervous system, remembering joy, remembering peace.

(06:53)
Let yourself sit in that for a second with that crown, that beautiful golden light. It's yours. You have control of it. You can tap into it at any time. Save this or any of my thrives and fives for easy access to tapping into yourself. Okay? So you just took back a little piece of your power in five minutes. If you want more tools like this to stay grounded, you can grab my boundaries Pocket guide, right? If you need to set some boundaries or the Empowered Boundaries course for deeper healing, and if you want insane transformation, you are ready. You are over this, done with it, and you're ready to actually take an hour, hour a week. I am holding you to that. It is, this is weekly work with me and you get access in between. So if you're someone who's ready to show up and glow up, go check out my three month one-on-one program.

(07:58)
It is epic. It is transformational. You're already a queen. You're going to be a double queen, okay? So go check out those ways to work with me and I will see you in the next, not see you. I will talk to you. You can imagine what I look like, but I won't be there. Should I do these on video? I did a few of 'em. Tell me if you would like these on video or if you are a podcast person in the Facebook group. Yes, speaking of which, join my free Facebook group. That's where all the magic happens. Can you imagine? There's more magic that is always in the show notes too. So yes, tell me in there if you would like video or you like audio is good for you. Alright? And don't forget to follow my podcast on the main page of wherever you are listening to this. You go to my main page on whatever platform and just hit the follow button so you can follow my podcast. See? So you don't miss of this magic glitter. Okay? All right, I love you. I will see you in the next, I'm just going to, maybe it's God saying you need to do video. Maybe I'll see you in a video soon, huh? Smooches deuces later.

You finally broke free — but why does it still feel so hard to breathe?
In this episode, Christy Jade breaks down what no one tells you about life after the trauma bond.

If you’ve ever caught yourself craving the chaos, feeling pulled to respond to that text, or getting triggered by their name — even though you know they’re toxic — this one’s for you.

You’re not weak. You’re not “going backward.”
You’re experiencing what Christy calls the trauma bond hangover — that emotional, mental, and physical crash that happens when your body is detoxing from dysfunction.

👑 Your Next Step in Healing

✨ Ready to rebuild your peace, power, and self-trust after narcissistic abuse?
Explore Christy’s most transformative programs below:

🌸 Empowered Boundaries Course
Learn how to set boundaries that actually stick — without the guilt spiral. Includes 10 video modules, a meditation bundle, and lifetime access.
→ https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/empowered-boundaries/

💖 1:1 Coaching + Somatic Healing
Reclaim your peace, power, and clarity in a private, guided journey with Christy. This is where REAL customized transformation is made!
→ https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/transformational-coaching-quarterly/

💌 Resources for Your Healing Journey

✨ Grab your FREE Boundaries Pocket Guide → https://christyjade.ck.page/ce79ea9250
✨ Join the FREE Facebook Community for daily support + sisterhood → https://www.facebook.com/groups/christyjade
✨ Snag your Copy-Paste-Peace Scripts for boundary convos that actually work → https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/copy-paste-peace-fast-37/

💬 Episode Highlights

•

Why guilt spikes when a toxic parent gets older or sick

•

The truth about “honoring your parents” — and what that really looks like in abuse recovery

•

How to stop confusing compassion with obligation

•

Nervous system tools to stay grounded when guilt-tripping starts

•

Christy’s personal reflection on balancing empathy with self-care

🩷 Let’s Connect

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/fiercechristyjade/

Email me!

fiercemamac@gmail.com

TRANSCRIPT Speaker 1 (00:00):

Alright, so you finally got out, you blocked, deleted. Maybe you even changed your number. So why does it still feel like you've been hit by a damn emotional freight train? Today we're going to talk about the part no one really warns you about the trauma bond hangover, the weird, awful mix of craving the chaos, feeling that pull to check their page or getting instantly triggered when their name pops up on your phone. I know that one, even when you know they're toxic, your body's still wired to respond like it is life or death. So you're not weak, you're healing from an emotional addiction. So we're going to talk about what is really going on underneath and how to help calm that nervous system so you can finally actually start to feel free.

(00:53)
Have you finally broken free from that narcissist creepy crawly web, but still feel stuck in fear. Wish you could trust yourself again and take your life back. Well, you're in the right place, queen. I'm Christie, wife, mom and narcissistic abuse recovery coach. I've walked the messy road, wasted money on the wrong therapist and dry advice and how to come to Jesus moment to get me here to feel free. I had to reconnect with me, set boundaries that stuck and find healing methods that actually lasted. Now I've created a plan that's empowering, doable, and yes, even fun because I'm sparkly and fun. So of course it's going to be fun. So if you're ready to break cycles, reclaim your peace and trust yourself again, this podcast is for you. So steep, that chamomile tea, silence, all that crazy chaos out there and let's cue your royal glow up.

(01:51)
Okay, queen, let's be honest, nobody really talks about this part. Everyone cheers you on when you're finally leaving the narcissist. You did it, you're free. I hated that mofo. But what happens when freedom doesn't just immediately feel peaceful? You may think you're going to get this huge relief and you may get some, but you expected more and it could be years later and you could still be stuck in feeling that lack of peace. So what happens when your brain keeps checking for danger or your body jolts every time you see their name, you're out of the relationship technically, but it still feels like they are living rent free in your damn head. That is the trauma bond hangover. And if you're in it, oh honey, I get it. I have been there. It is not a fun place. It is not a fun carnival and we want to help you get out.

(02:42)
Okay, so I first, what is the trauma bond hangover? It is what happens when your body is still addicted to the roller coaster even though you've stepped off the ride. That's what we talk about somatic healing that I do with my clients. That's why we do that body work because your body is still stuck. So your brain was trained literally to associate chaos with connection, okay? Every love bomb, every cruel text, every silent treatment created these chemical spikes and crashes all about the rollercoaster, the dopamine, cortisol, all of it out of balance. So now when you try to rest, your nervous system doesn't know what to do. It's like what? Where's the next hit? Where's the next crisis? It's not that you miss them. Technically you miss the chemical storm or you get pulled in because it's so familiar. So it's not like, yes, you're not laying there going, God, I miss being sucked in the drama and I miss those highs and lows.

(03:53)
You're not like consciously sitting there thinking about that, but your body is responding and it responds to what's comfortable. So if you get that jolt and your body goes, oh, this is comfortable, I'm getting that pang of fear that I see when I see this person's name, because when you lived with them and let's say they were physically abusive to you, even mentally abusive, it's all abuse. When you were dealing with it on a more intimate level, your body responded in a way, kind of like a survival mode way, and now your body is still stuck in that. It's having that same trigger and the same addiction technically. So your body, I don't want to say you miss the chemical storm, but your body misses. It became dependent on it, and your brain mistakes that storm for love because that's what it learned. I want to go say that's what it was conditioned for by your lovely narc.

(04:54)
Okay, so let's be real. Trauma bonds do not dissolve the moment you block someone. That's just not how it works. Your body has to unlearn survival mode, and that's why we love somatic healing. But why does the healing feel harder than the leaving? So leaving takes adrenaline, okay, you're in action mode. You pack your things, you make a plan, you move. Healing is when you're away, maybe not completely away, but you're physically away in that daily sense, right? The more frequent being with this person, and that's when the silence hits. So that adrenaline fades and emotions rush in. It kind of reminds me of if you're, let's say caring for a very sick parent and you have adrenaline, you're taking them to the doctors, you are having a lot of immediate emotions worrying. Are they going to get so sick they pass, or is this the time I've gone through this myself?

(06:04)
So I'm just comparing something that feels a little similar to me, right? It's all this adrenaline, it's what your body does in survival mode and to focus. You're talking to doctors, you're making things happen, getting the images from the hospital, doing all this. You're in go, go, go mode. And when they pass, there is a span of time where yes, that adrenaline continues. You're making the calls, you're talking people, you're hosting people, you're arranging, making all the arrangements. And then they say, always check on your friends. A few weeks after someone, a parent or someone close, whatever has passed, because that's when the silence trickles in. That's when the people aren't around as much and the adrenaline calms and you are with your thoughts and your fears and everything in silence, and the emotions can really rush in. Then so you start feeling everything you stuff down to basically survive, and that's when the cravings come.

(07:17)
So the urge is to text, to peek at their profile even if you don't want to be back with them, and maybe you do, maybe you're in a place where you're questioning, did I make a mistake? I know that that can happen especially immediately after, but let's say you're further down the journey and you're like, hell no, I don't want to go back to that. But you still find yourself rereading their text messages, analyzing, talking to your friends about it, and even if you know they're baiting you, even if you know they haven't changed, you still do these things. Your body is saying, this silence feels unsafe. So you are at war. Your heart, your brain, your body, they're having different stories. Go on because for so long, chaos felt like home chaos felt like home, and I'm so glad it's not your home baby girl.

(08:13)
But your body's still feeling like that. It's still comfortable with that. You might get triggered by the tiniest things, a song, a smell, a message, and this could be a nostalgic feeling or it could trigger you, and you get mad when you think about that person. I'm not saying it has to be one specific emotion, but it can trigger any emotions. Maybe you feel a buzzing under your skin like you're waiting for something bad to happen, right? That's not weakness. That is your nervous system trying to find the new normal. Like I said, it does not happen overnight. So how do we get through this hangover without taking their bait, without texting them back or losing our damn marbles? So we have to talk a little strategy. It can feel impossible if you don't understand what's happening. Your brain can just fire all over with all the different ideas and let me try to be the nice guy.

(09:17)
Let me yell back at them, right? There's all these different ideas that spiral and you spiral and you spiral. So step one, don't spiral. Don't ground, okay? When the urge hits to take any kind, ofit, any kind of debate, I don't think that was good English there, but right to respond, to check, to fix, pause and breathe. Look around the room. You might've heard me talk about this before, but it's a simple thing you can do with your kindergartners so you can do it. We keep these things simple because when your brain's in overdrive like that, you need simple. Okay? So you might be like, Christie, you sound like you're talking to a five-year-old. I have to, okay, so you name five things you can see, just look around. Okay, I'm going to do it right now. So I'm pumped up. Even just from talking on podcast, getting passionate, thinking about right.

(10:13)
Watch me calm down in a few seconds. Okay? I see a beautiful pearl necklace, I see beautiful roses. Oh, I see my palm tree bag. That immediately gives me peace. I am a palm tree obsessed woman. My rose gold brush that makes me happy and oh, a fuzzy flamingo pen. Now you know what weird shit I have on my house, but I feel my body already, just my nervous systems rebalancing. So that's what you do. Look around, name five things and then say, I'm safe right now. It sounds simple, but it tells your body you are not in danger anymore. All right? Now step two, move the energy out. You can shake your body, right? Shake your legs, shake your arms, shake your body line. I have a flamingo theme going on today. I have a flamingo, I don't know, stuffed animal thing that you press a button and it dances and sings and it sings that.

(11:24)
Shake your body line, work, work, do it all the time. Something like that, and it just reminds me of that. Alright? I'm having a lot of a DD moments today. So you shake your body line, you walk, you stretch, whatever helps your body release those chemicals that are pumping from the stress cycle, okay? You're not just healing from your heart, you are retraining your nervous system. It's a whole system, okay? It's got a lot involved in step three, create a response plan for your triggers, right? I talked about those triggers that pop up. Write out what you'll do. I'm a pen to paper, girl, forget digital. Get yourself a planner or not planner a journal, do a planner too. I'm big on paper planners, but for this, a journal where you start writing some stuff down your affirmations, all the good stuff, but you could write down what you'll do when that text comes through or when you feel tempted to peek at something or a trigger comes just in general.

(12:32)
So you can write it down. If they text me, I will screenshot it. Block and walk outside because you want to have evidence. I will say that keep all your evidence so you can screenshot it, block it, say I'll deal with it later and don't deal with it later. If you don't have to, you can block them momentarily. I know with co-parenting it's tough if you are allowed to block them permanently, block 'em permanently. If not, block it for a few moments. Go take a walk, and then if I get triggered, I'll do my grounding routine instead of reacting. So we're training ourselves, right? We're training ourselves. So we're writing pen to paper. If this happens, I'm doing this. We have a plan. We have to have a plan because you are just floating out there like a crazy old balloon in the wind and you need to get grounded.

(13:24)
You need a plan to get grounded. So whatever works for you, you're creating a pause between trigger and action. We don't want that initial action to happen taking the bait and it will just not just affect you, but it will get them to engage with you more and more. You know how it works. You've been doing this. They love you to engage, they love you to take the bait and they thrive off the chaos. Don't give it to 'em. Another question, you can write down, what is the most peaceful thing I could do right now? Guess what? It's not responding. It's not spiraling, right? It's going and taking a walk. It's looking for five things in the room. It's making a lovely chocolate milkshake you deserve. And step four, fill the void with real connection. You cannot detox from chaos and isolation. You were probably in a very isolated place while you, you're with them.

(14:24)
Most are very controlling. Try to keep you from the people that matter in your life. So you are free from that now, right? And you were wired for survival and you did whatever it took to stay alive in that relationship, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. And now you're learning what peace feels like. And it may feel weird at first me, it did. Hell yeah, it did. It's quiet, it's steady, it's predictable. If you make it that way, I'm a God person. So now to me, peace and joy is predictable because God wants me to have that every day. That's a whole other episode, but it's not exciting, like chaos. You miss the excitement. Your body may miss all those dopamine hits, but it's safe. And our goal is peace and safety now. So every time you choose not to respond, not to check, not to spiral, you're teaching your body that peace is the new normal and we love that it looks way better on you.

(15:30)
I'll be honest than your chaos face. Nobody wants a chaos face. Should I make T-shirts with that? You're rewiring your heart from this fake love to true safety. So when that ache hits that urge to reach out or the trigger that just that visceral reaction it causes, remind yourself this is not a sign to go back, it's a sign. I'm just healing. My body's getting used to the new normal. It's not going to feel peace overnight. It's not going to feel calm overnight, but with some tools and I got plenty more tools and if you do one-on-one work with me. I always put the links, how to work with me in the show notes, one-on-one work we do. Customized definitely more than just looking around at five objects though that can help. We do a lot of deep, deep inner work to undo the damage and to retrain your brain and God's there with you in the stillness, right?

(16:28)
Helping you rewire for real love, real peace and the real stuff, right? And freedom. Imagine what it would feel like if three months from now you barely remember what it was like to feel triggered every time you saw the phone ring, every time that you didn't know what to do or how to respond. You didn't know why they were doing this, saying this. You were terrified that your kids think you're the devil. Imagine if you could have a calm nervous system, what that would feel like. So I have a three month program. There is I think one opening left for ongoing three month, my three month program. I can only take a certain amount of those. That's some intense she is. We do mindset and somatic healing and that you got to show up to. I am not taking clients who are not committed to doing once a week work.

(17:34)
That's a waste of time because if you're spending the money that you spend to do three months, you need to be showing up and that's where the transformation happens. Not showing up once and then a month and a half later like, Hey, oh, I signed up for my next, no, we do weekly calls and you get me on Voxer, which is like a walkie talkie app. Once a day I will chat with you, answer any questions, give you motivation, whatever you need in between those other calls. So you get this really fun feature when you sign up for three month. Okay? So check that out in my show notes. And if you're in this hangover phase, you feel in the pull the triggers. I also have Empowered Boundaries course. That's like a self-led thing. I will say the transformation you get on the three month one-on-one is much deeper, much longer lasting.

(18:32)
But the Empowered Boundaries course is great for people who maybe aren't ready for that level yet, but want to start setting boundaries and doing a little of that energetic work. So that I will also put in my show notes and there is the Free Boundaries Pocket guide, which if you have not grabbed that, that's always there too. Alright? And remember, Thursday is Thrive in five. So that's always related to my Tuesday episode. So we will have a usually the somatic type thing or even maybe a motivational mini episode directly correlated to Tuesday's episode. So this week it will be related to this lovely trauma bond hangover. Okay? All right, and you guys have a great day, great week. You look amazing today. Go look at yourself. I want you to look in the mirror today. I want you to say I'm a damn queen and I look good.

(19:35)
Yeah, you got to say it just like that too, because it's half the meaning. If you don't give it that sassy azzy, you are, you're a damn queen. I will see you in the next one on Thursday. Don't forget to make sure you're following my podcast wherever you're listening, just go to my main show and hit follow or subscribe. I don't know what it says. Some little button somewhere so that you don't miss me. I'm here twice a week just waiting to hang out. So you don't want to miss that, do you? No. All right. Love you Smooches Bye.

In this Thrive in 5, Christy Jade guides you through a simple five-minute process that helps you protect your child’s emotional safety when dealing with a narcissistic parent. Instead of reacting from fear, conditioning, or pressure to “keep things smooth,” you’ll learn how to regulate your body, detach from the narcissist’s hooks, and model calm authority your child can immediately feel.

This micro-training focuses on one small but powerful shift: stabilizing your own nervous system so your child learns emotional safety, discernment, and self-trust — even when the other parent continues their chaos. These five minutes will change how you show up in high-conflict moments.

Feeling stuck in the mental loop of the narcissist? Let’s reset it.

If you’re tired of the obsessive thoughts, emotional triggers, or constantly replaying what happened, my Calm & Clarity Reset Call is designed to help you shift out of that spiral quickly.

In this focused 1:1 session we’ll calm your nervous system, untangle what’s actually keeping you stuck, and create clear next steps so you can move forward with confidence.

Book your Reset Call here:
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/calm-and-clarity-reset-call/

3-Month Coaching Container: Reclaim Your Peace

This container is designed for women who are ready to stabilize their nervous system, rebuild self-trust, and start creating real emotional freedom after narcissistic abuse.

Apply here:
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/transformational-coaching-quarterly/

6-Month Coaching Container: Queens of Peace

For deeper healing and long-term transformation. Together we work through trauma patterns, boundaries, nervous system regulation, and rebuilding the life you want after abuse.

Apply here:
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/6-month-queens-of-peace-program/

12-Month Coaching Container

This is the highest level of support for women ready to fully reclaim their power and build a life that feels peaceful, confident, and aligned.

Apply here:
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/12-month-queens-of-peace-program/

Additional Support & Resources

Boundaries Pocket Guide (Free)
https://christyjade.ck.page/ce79ea9250

Copy-Paste-Peace Scripts
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/copy-paste-peace-fast-37/

Empowered Boundaries Course
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/empowered-boundaries/

Free Facebook Community
https://www.facebook.com/groups/christyjade

TRANSCRIPT

Speaker 1 (00:03):

Welcome to your Thursday, thrive in five, your five minute pause from the chaos, the gaslighting, and that text you knew better than to reply to take a breath Queen. This one's for you. Today's Thrive in five is all about your energy and moments when the narcissistic parent creates tension because your kids absorb your state more than the actual words that are spoken, right? They're little sponges. So you're going to teach your child safety by regulating yourself first, right in the moment. So we're going to give you this advice. You can save this if you're feeling it right now. You can use it now, but you can listen to know what to do. And then definitely save this episode. So in the moment you can refer to it and maybe you can even take little notes. But this is definitely a saver episode. Alright, so you're going to set your timer for five minutes, okay?

(01:06)
Get yourself a little timer. It can be on your phone. One of those cute ones you have in the kitchen, the little kitchen timers. I have one that's a little mushroom. It's so cute. Alright, squirrel. Okay, so five minutes. Minute one, you're going to notice your body's alarm system. So think of that last text demand or surprise request from the narcissistic parent, right? And your body probably does one of these things. The chest tightens, the stomach drop. I know that one. The shoulders rise all the way up to your ears and your breath gets shallow, right? One of those two of those, all of those. So first, in that first minute, notice it name the sensation out loud like my chest feels tight. Naming it out loud equals calming it. Okay? True, true facts, only true facts here on the Queen's show. Alright, minute two, you're going to then slow the pace for your child.

(02:11)
Kids mirror your nervous system. Okay? Remember that? So you can repeat this three breath pattern and you can do it silently or with your child if they're present to teach them, right? We're role modeling and teaching our children what to do when stress comes about. So one, you're going to inhale through your nose. Two, you're going to hold it for two seconds, and three, you're going to exhale a little longer than that. Inhale. And this tells your child and yourself, we handle intensity with calm, not chaos. Opposite of the lovely narc, right? We want to be opposite. So we handle intensity with calm, not chaos. Minute three, detach from that narcs hook. Okay? Ask yourself, what is the fact here? Not the feeling. I get it. We are all up in our feelings. We're empaths. We're good hearted people, we've been mind ed, right? I get it.

(03:22)
But we need to role model and give ourselves peace. So what is the fact? So what's an example of that? The feeling is he's trying to control me again and getting triggered. The fact is pickup is at four. That's all I need to address. Whatever he's trying to do, we don't need to worry about. It's good to know that, right? That's very helpful when you're learning about the narcissist. But we know that already now at this point. Yeah, but our focus is the fact, whatever the deal is, pickup, set for whatever facts are safe, that's our safety feelings. That is the narcissist playground, right? They want to see and feel and hear all your feelings. That's you taking their bait. So this reduces your reactivity and models discernment for your kid, no matter how old they are, if they're two or they are 18. Alright, minute four, we're going to choose one sentence of calm authority.

(04:32)
So pick one neutral boundaried line, like per the order pickup remains at four o'clock. Or I'll refer to the agreement or I'm not available for additional changes. Short and steady to the point. I always say, don't take the bait, don't get emotional, keep it short. And that equals emotional safety for your child too. Okay? So this is the piece that those kids internalize for life. How are you responding? Calm and authoritative, right? Per the order. Pickup remains at four. It's just the facts. People. We're queens. We don't have time for all these big emotions. Okay? Number five, we're minute five. Sorry. Teach your children one mini skill, okay? And again, refer back to Tuesday's episode. If you have not listened to that, please go listen to that. That's going to really dig into the best ways to deal with the entire situation with a narcissist, dealing with the kids and all of the toxic things you don't want to do yourself.

(05:52)
And how to keep the peace, but in a way that isn't what you normally would do with someone who's not toxic. So please watch. Listen to that episode if you haven't. So right after contact with the narcissistic parent, you're not going to trash talk them, right? You're going to do the mature adult thing that will keep peace for you and your child. You can't control the narc, okay? Do this one grounding micro practice with your child. And this one, you get to even call it a fun little cute child thing. The butterfly hug. And it's 30 seconds and anyone can learn this and it is good for you. It's good for a 2-year-old. It's good for that 15-year-old who's going to roll their I. So you just cross your arms over your chest. You tap the left side right on the top of your arm tap.

(06:46)
I'm doing it right now if you can hear, I'm giving myself a good old butterfly hug. And then tap the right, tap the left. Tap the right while you are slowing your breathing in through the nose, out through the mouth. Tap left, tap right. Okay. So cross arms over chest tap left tap right, tap left, tap right. Slow breathing until you feel your nervous system calm. But 30 seconds is a good amount of time and you can say your body knows how to keep you safe. So this teaches them to trust the intuition that therapists, some therapists tell them to ignore that. Tell them to push through and to keep the peace. That's the keeping the peace that I'm not here for. We're not bypassing feelings. We are honoring our intuition, their intuition and teaching them your body knows how to keep you safe. And doing the butterfly hugs.

(07:54)
There's other examples too, but that's a good one is very important to me. So you don't change a narcissist, you're not going to change the narcissist, but you can change the energetic environment that your child grows up in while they're in your care. And they can do these things. And I know a narc is very controlling, so maybe they can't do it right in the middle of an interaction with their narc parent. But you can tell them if you ever have a tense situation at narc, parents, don't call 'em narc, but narc parents home and there's an interaction that makes you sad or upset, just don't take the bait. You can teach them in children's terms of not taking the bait, just kind of gray rocking a. And when they get a chance to be in private, to go to their room or whatever, teach them the grounding skills they will need because they will need them.

(09:05)
And again, I say not everyone wants to really say all this out loud. If your child is a child of a narcissist, they need to be prepared. That's okay. We are where we are here. We can't change the past, we can't change what happened. All we can do is do the best with where we are. And your child can still be an amazing, healthy individual. They have you as a parent that is getting healthy, that's learning these tools that cares immensely for them. So they're ahead of a lot of people. Look, there are people with two parents that nobody really teaches them any tools or how to do X, Y, Z. So you are prepared, you're getting prepared and you're helping them prepare for what they need to do to cope with these situations. So this can be little, just five minutes at a time things.

(10:02)
We have the five minute situation and then we have just the butterfly hug alone. They can do that easy peasy lemon squeezy in 30 seconds that can just calm them down and help their nervous system. And they get to also say to themselves, your body knows how to keep you safe during those times. So save this episode already. And don't forget if you didn't listen to Tuesday's episode, definitely, definitely listen to that. It's a great episode. I may be biased, but it's amazing. Just kidding. So if you're not following my podcast, go find the follow button so you don't miss any episodes because we got some good shit up in here. Okay? Yeah, we do. And as always, all the information is in the show notes as far as how to work with me. If you want transformational kick ass customized help, there's a couple different ways you can check the links out.

(11:07)
But I have monthly and I have a three month really transformational, crazy, amazing epic work. And both I do coaching with you and somatic healing, which is through the body. We are healing deep stuff, but we don't have to do this super sad. Let's lay on a couch and cry about it for five hours, right? We're not going to bypass feelings, but we are going to have some magic happen. We're going to GoFund places, I call 'em Soul Cas. We go on little locations. We help our nervous system regulate. There's so many beautiful things in somatic healing. So you can read more about that in the links in my show notes. And I have a free private Facebook page, so definitely go join that to be around more women who understand what you're going through. It's a women only private Facebook group for narcissistic abuse recovery.

(12:08)
So jump on and there. And I have, if you haven't grabbed them yet, there is my pocket boundaries. What's it? Boundaries Pocket guide is the official term. And that's just some helpful boundaries that you can set just a little free before you. And I also have my Boundaries course, which is self-paced if you just want something more like that. So obviously the one-on work with me is where you're going to get the deepest, most beneficial work. But there are other options out there. If you're not ready for that or can't the investment, you can't make that investment. So definitely check all of that out and I will see you in the next video. It's not a video, not, I keep calling it a video. I was a YouTuber once, a big bad YouTuber. I still have my YouTube actually should go check it out. There's all sorts of crazy weird videos on there.

(13:09)
Steal a Kiss 33 on YouTube. I barely do videos there anymore. But yes, that was my life, my old life. I did makeup tutorials, I did vlogs, all sorts of fun. And I should be putting videos up there, but I'm very focused on my podcast and my book I'm writing. Once I finish my book, I might start doing more videos again just for funsies. But yes, you guys, I'm also writing a book about narcissistic abuse recovery and it's going to be awesome. I'm so excited. All this stuff I'm working on right now is just very, very exciting. So I can't wait to get that completed. I hope I'm writing that. I'm on chapter seven out of 12, but I'm going to go over it a couple more times. And I have a couple people waiting in the wings that are going to read it as beta readers. And then I do have an editor in New York City that I'm going to work with to edit it and the publishing. And I think she may be helping me with that too. But it's going to be unlike any other narcissistic abuse recovery book that is out there of that, I am sure. Right? I think if you know me, that's not a surprise. This is not going to be boring, old, stale facts. There's some queening going on in it. So stay tuned for that. Alright, I will see you in the next audio in the next podcast, not video and chin up. Shine that crown. You look amazing, okay? And you are so valuable and so, so special, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Okay? Okay. Bye.

Ready to stop feeling like a doormat in your own life?
Snag your FREE copy of “Bye, Guilt. Hello, Boundaries! Guide to Boundaries That Stick (Without the Guilt Spiral)”
https://christyjade.ck.page/ce79ea9250

This isn’t your typical fluffy PDF. You’ll learn how to:
💥 Ditch guilt for good
💥 Set boundaries that actually hold up (even with narcissists)
💥 Protect your peace like the queen you are

This guide is your first step to saying nope with confidence—and meaning it.

—

🎧 EPISODE BREAKDOWN:

Let’s be honest—co-parenting with a narcissist is next-level. You’re not just managing a schedule… you’re managing chaos, manipulation, and emotional landmines.

In this episode, I’m breaking down:

•

The #1 mindset shift that will change the game

•

Boundaries that actually work with a narcissistic co-parent

•

Scripts and strategies to stay calm, clear, and in control

•

Why traditional co-parenting advice fails (and what to do instead)

This is your permission slip to stop playing nice and start protecting your peace.

—

💬 Join my private FREE Facebook group for support + healing:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2420729361374989

—

💥 Want to go deeper with boundaries at podcast listener's VIP pricing?!
Check out my Empowered Boundaries Course—a self-paced journey to help you stop people-pleasing and start standing tall in your truth.
👉 https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/empowered-boundaries/?coupon=QUEEN50

—

Let’s connect:
💖 Instagram: @fiercechristyjade
💬 Email support & coaching: fiercemamac@gmail.com

👉 Book your private session → https://christyjade.com/somatichealing

:

---

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Tired of feeling like your narcissistic ex is still controlling your life somewhat, even after the breakup you're trying to co-parent. But it feels more like combat. Let's be real, right? Boundaries should help. So why do they not seem to work with them today? We're getting into y narcissists are different beasts when it comes to co-parenting and some boundary strategies that actually work. Let's go clean. Have you finally broken free from that narcissist creepy crawly web, but still feel stuck in fear? Wish you could trust yourself again and take your life back while you're in the right place. Queen. I'm Christie, wife, mom and narcissistic abuse recovery coach. I've walked the messy road, wasted money on the wrong therapist and dry ice, and had to come to Jesus moment to get me here to feel free. I had to reconnect with me, set boundaries that stuck, and find healing methods that actually lasted.

(01:03)
Now I've created a plan that's empowering, doable, and yes, even fun because I'm sparkly and fun. So of course it's going to be fun. So if you're ready to break cycles, reclaim your peace and trust yourself. Again, this podcast is for you. So steep, that chamomile tea, silence, all that crazy chaos out there. And let's cue your royal glow up. Hello, it is Christa. Today we're diving into one of the most exhausting post abuse challenges, co-parenting with a narcissist. Let's be real. This is not normal. This is parallel parenting with a manipulative, self-serving adult child who uses the kids as pawns and the drama as fuel. They love that drama and that's why, oh, just communicate better or take the high road advice from well-meaning people doesn't work here. It doesn't work. And so let's break it down. Why are they different? Right? First, they don't want peace.

(02:10)
Some healthy minded individuals after a divorce may be hurt, but they really do want peace in the end. So they might disagree with you, but they actually want the resolution a narcissist. They want what control. We know that chaos, they actually want chaos and a reaction. You're feeding them even if it's a negative reaction. So if your boundaries are focused on keeping the peace, you're already playing their game. Okay? Number two, they weaponize everything. So information, your tone, the kid's schedule, anything can be twisted. This means your boundaries have to be so tight, minimal. And my part of what I teach in my boundaries course and elsewhere is emotionless. And that's hard. That's hard for a lot of you, and it was hard for me, but there's ways to do it, okay? And number three, they see boundaries as attacks. They're not seeing, you're protecting yourself.

(03:19)
They're seeing you attacking them. So it's a rejection. And we all know that narcissists cannot handle rejection. So they'll either push back on it, they'll guilt trip you, or one of the worst things, especially when you're dealing with co-parenting and children, they will punish you through the kids. So that's why setting the boundary isn't enough. You need a backup plan for the backlash because there inevitably will be backlash with a narcissist when you set a boundary. So some boundaries that actually work with narcissistic co-parents or parallel parents, we'll call 'em Number one, like I said, I love the no emotion rule. Use a no emotion, no explanation policy. So think of it like a business email energy. So I'm not available to swap weekends. Please refer to the agreement, not I can't this weekend I have a family event and I've been really overwhelmed. No, save all that noise.

(04:27)
The unnecessary information that they can use to turn on you, they use it against you later. They'll twist it, whatever, no extra info, very to the point. They love when you overexplain. Keep it short, clear, no room for debate or conversation. Number two, communicate only through a parallel parenting app. So our family wizard is the one I have heard great things about, or talking parents. I don't know someone personally who uses that, but I've seen that also talked about. And they document everything and reduce that real time interaction. Why? Because narcissists specifically are less likely to manipulate when the receipts are permanent. They might still do it, but then it's documented and you have it against them, right? But they are a little less likely to, especially when they're not up in a rage to do that because they can be very calculated. So they're like, oh yeah, I don't want that outside of this circle with my ex.

(05:37)
So it will help them and help you. So the bonuses, you won't be tempted to respond to their nonsense at midnight. You're on this app, it helps you too. So I just love technology in situations like this. Number three, set emotional boundaries with you yourself. Okay? This is the one no one really talks about. You are not just setting boundaries with them. You're setting them with yourself. Okay? So here's an example. I will not engage with my parallel parent after 6:00 PM whatever it is. Maybe that's not your time, maybe it's eight. Whatever suits your schedule and your peace of mind, let yourself have those nights where you can just relax and say, I'm not even going to acknowledge them. Number two, I will not read texts more than once. Don't get into that monkey mind where you read things over and over and try to analyze and figure out. Read it just once. And then to the third point, I will pause before responding so I don't go into trigger mode. And there's more on this in my boundaries course. But if you don't go into trigger mode, you help yourself keep that piece, you're helping yourself.

(07:06)
They're going to keep coming at you. You can't control them. You can't control what you're doing. So you can control when you, you're accepting their texts, looking at them, you can control how many times you're looking at them. And you can control, even though it's a little hard saying, I'm going to go count to 30, right? Do something like that. And once you get to 30, your body has already calmed down a bit, and you can go into something else and then have a second point of, okay, now that I'm calm, I'm going to just leave that and I'm going to go do this. Maybe to take your mind off it. Put on some funny animal videos. Go throw some laundry in. Whatever you got to do to kind of get out of that triggered emotional response because you do not want to take their bait and respond while you were feeling that way.

(07:59)
And we want to keep it short and simple, like I said. And when you're in trigger mode, you can't do that. So this though, a bonus of emotional boundaries with yourself is this builds that self-trust. We've talked about that. You have trouble trying to get back. You don't know if you can trust yourself anymore. This help builds that. Setting boundaries with yourself. You're making agreements with you and you're protecting yourself. And when you trust you, their chaos cannot pull you back in. When you get to that point where you start saying, okay, I've got me, I'm going to protect me. I know what I'm doing. They can't get you back in. I love that. So let's recap. Narcissists don't want peace. They want power. We know that regular co-parenting tips do not work on dynamics. They just don't. Number three, your boundaries need to be airtight.

(09:02)
The biggest thing, emotion free, if you take anything from this podcast, emotion free and backed by emotional self-protection, right? So take the emotions out it, step away. Do not respond when you are triggered. Final thoughts here. You're not powerless, okay? You're not difficult or bitter for setting limits at all. They'll make you think you are, but you're not. I'm the queen. Be a boundaries. I know, okay, you're not. You're a mom. Reclaiming her peace in the middle of a damn storm. That is crazy. But do you know that's actually your superpower? That you are here saying, I'm going to show up for my kids. I'm going to show up for myself. I'm not doing this anymore. That's not bitter, that's not mean. That's smart as hell.

(10:02)
So if you're ready to create boundaries that actually stick, even with the most manipulative X, you can download my free guide called Buy Guilt, hello Boundaries. I love it. And that is packed with guilt-free scripts starter steps to help you say no with zero apology. And you can go from there. I do have a course too, but check out that free guide first, and I will put the link as always in the podcast description area, the notes area, whatever you want to call it, and make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so you get all my goodies. But I'm so excited. This is a brand new free guide. This Buy Guilt, hello Boundaries. It's going to help you out. It's brand new. So it's got all sorts of good stuff that I have learned through the years and polished up. So go grab that. That is your homework for this day. Go grab that. It's, I'll have the link like I said in the description, and I will see you in the next episode. Don't forget, Thursdays are my quicker episodes that are more like hands-on healing from the body visualizations, meditations. Sometimes we'll do like a script, so they're shorter, little bite sized episodes that you can save and go back to over and over again. So make sure to follow the podcast so you get the notifications, and I will see you on Thursday. Bye, queen.

Breaking the Trauma Bond: What Keeps You Hooked (And How to Finally Break Free)

Episode Description (Show Notes):

You left… but you still feel hooked.
You blocked them… but you still think about them.
You know they were toxic… so why does part of you miss them?

Welcome to the trauma bond.

In this episode, Christy breaks down:
What a trauma bond really is
Why you feel addicted to someone who hurt you

The exact steps to finally unhook and come back to YOU

If you’ve ever felt confused, ashamed, or obsessed after narcissistic abuse—this is your wake-up call (and your soft place to land). 💕

Free Gift: The Boundaries Pocket Guide

Want to stop second-guessing yourself and finally set boundaries that stick without the guilt spiral?
Download Christy’s free Boundaries Pocket Guide — designed to help you reclaim your peace and protect your power after narcissistic abuse.
Grab it here → https://christyjade.kit.com/ce79ea9250

Ready to Go Deeper in Your Healing?

Whether you’re newly out or years into recovery, support changes everything.
Here are 3 powerful ways to work with Christy:

Reclaiming You: 1:1 Clarity & Intake Session
This 90-minute session is for the woman who’s serious about healing and wants to explore working together in a deeper way. It’s not designed as a one-off quick fix—but rather a powerful first step for those considering the monthly or 3-month coaching containers. If you're feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure which path to take next, this session is for you.
Book here: https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/journey-to-peace-coaching-blueprint/

3-Month Transformational Coaching Package
This is the most supportive and spacious container I offer. We’ll dive deep into emotional healing, nervous system support, boundary work, and personal empowerment so you can rise fully in your peace and power.
Learn more: https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/transformational-coaching-quarterly/

Related Episodes You’ll Love:

Still Attached to the Narcissist? This Deep Cord Cutting Practice Can Help
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/still-attached-to-the-narcissist-this-deep-cord/id1662241353?i=1000708306120

Thrive in 5: Still Energetically Tied to the Narcissist? Cut the Cord With This Quick Practice
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/still-energetically-tied-to-the-narcissist-cut-the/id1662241353?i=1000706789155

Stay Connected:

email: fiercemamac@gmail.com

Follow Christy on Instagram →

https://www.instagram.com/fiercechristyjade/

TRANSCRIPT

Speaker 1 (00:00):

So you block them, you want no contact, whatever it is, they're toxic. So why does part of you still miss them or just obsess over them? Why do you feel guilty or worse even tempted to go back? I've been getting some messages lately with listeners who really are trying to stay away and out of the life and not take the bait, but it is hard for them. So let's go into it. If you've ever felt like you're addicted to the narcissist, this episode is for you. We're talking about the trauma bond, what it is, why it's so hard to break, and how to finally unhook and come back to you because you're the queen, right?

(00:46)
Have you finally broken free from that narcissist creepy crawly web, but still feel stuck in fear? Wish you could trust yourself again and take your life back. Well, you're in the right place, queen. I'm Christie, wife, mom and narcissistic abuse recovery coach. I've walked the messy road, wasted money on the wrong therapist and dry advice, and had to come to Jesus moment to get me here to feel free. I had to reconnect with me, set boundaries that stuck, and find healing methods that actually lasted. Now I've created a plan that's empowering, doable, and yes, even fun because I'm sparkly and fun. So of course it's going to be fun. So if you're ready to break cycles, reclaim your peace and trust yourself again, this podcast is for you. So steep, that chamomile tea, silence, all that crazy chaos out there. And let's cue your royal glow up.

(01:44)
Hello, beautiful soul. Welcome back to Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Podcast where we were clean that peace, protect our power, and rebuild self-trust after narcissistic abuse. I'm Christy Jade, and today we are going deep into something most survivors wrestle with. I'd probably say all of them, even after they leave it is the trauma bond. That soul tie feeling, the obsessive loop that goes round and round in your mind, that craving for someone you know is harmful. And we can get shame about this, right? Kick that shit to the curb. We don't have time for your shame. Alright? So you're not crazy. You are trauma bonded and we're going to talk about it. So what is a trauma bond? It is a psychological and physiological attachment. These are real things, okay? Science that forms through repeated cycles of abuse and the intermittent reinforcement. So basically they hurt you.

(02:49)
They love bomb you, so you feel relief, right? Then what do they do? They pull away again. It's like, yo-yo, right? And your nervous system actually does become addicted to this cycle. The ups and downs, it becomes attached to it. It's the cycle. It's familiar, and you want that relief, right? Even after they hurt you, you're waiting, okay, well, I'm just holding onto that high. So kind of like a slot machine. You don't really know what you're going to get each day. You keep pulling the lever, hoping this time they're going to love you, right? They're going to treat you right? You're going to change them. Maybe this is all stuff I've heard about in my own life, of course, and then heard from you guys and working with clients. So the more unpredictable the behavior, the stronger bond.

(03:48)
That's why narcissists are masters at trauma bonding you so signs that you're still hooked even after going no contact or low contact. These trauma bonds can still linger. So here's some signs to know if you are still bonded, you miss them more than you want to admit. You might keep it on the dl. You fantasize them about them changing. Maybe even after you are broken up completely could be after you're divorced, these things happen, right? You doubt yourself or feel guilty for leaving. You have those moments. Maybe it's not all the time you feel anxious, empty or depressed without them. And again, this can be one or all of these. You don't have to necessarily feel all of these, but these are different versions. You minimize what they did. Oh, it wasn't that bad, right? Or look, we had good times though, right? That's minimizing the bad too.

(04:51)
Or you feel pulled to contact them even when you know it's basically self-sabotage. You still have that pull. This isn't weakness. And I know we can feel weak when we're in this, I get it, but it's a physiological, psychological and emotional loop. And until you interrupt it, it's going to keep looping. So why is it so hard to break? We're going to break down why you're still hooked. Even when your logical mind, you know that guy, there's like on the left shoulder, his logic says run. There is brain chemistry involved in this. So take a sigh of relief, maybe hug yourself. Like, Hey, this is actually a real condition in my brain.

(05:39)
So give yourself grace, please. So each high you got after a discard or mistreatment abuse, the hoover, the love bomb. That's the cycle. Discard Hoover love bomb released dopamine. You literally became chemically addicted to those tiny hits of validation and relief. And it's a cycle of knowing, oh, well, you know the pattern. You've been around this person long enough to know what the pattern is. So that can look like, oh, there's this abuse. I know what comes after it. That dopamine hit, it's going to feel better after. So I'm going to stick around for that dopamine. Okay?

(06:26)
Also, you attach during crisis. So that's another reason you are hooked, right? So you brain bonded during trauma. This is a primal survival strategy. Primal. It says stay close to danger so you can control it. And this is a big one in my past. Predict it. You feel like, okay, at least I know I can predict what's going to happen. Spoiler, you cannot control it, but your brain keeps trying. It wants to, which makes sense. And then there's the low self-worth equals an easier hook. So another reason it's hard to break when someone makes you feel like only they can love you the way they love you. Or maybe you're not worthy of love, right? These abusers often will make you feel like shit, knock you down, crush any confidence you have so they can have control over you and hook you more, right? It can tap into your childhood wounds, unmet needs you had, whether it was childhood are grown and fears, just even based on fears that you can lower your self-worth. They become your source of value. Really, you're dependent on them in those dopamine hits and those love bombs to feel valuable. So when they pull away, you panic because your sense of self, which is not from this point on, that's not going to be our sense of self anymore. We're going to do this work, but because that sense of self is tied to them. So how do you break free? That's all Great. Christie, how do you break free?

(08:13)
Let's flip the script here, Rick. Rick, here's how you start cutting the cord for real. First, label it as trauma bond. Naming it really out loud. Say it out loud. I'm a big advocate of saying shit out loud. Name it. This is trauma bond. It is not love. It is not a soulmate. It is a trauma bond. Say it. This is a trauma bond. Go ahead, queen. And then we're going to rename it from love toon. So that is going to reframe it in your mind and you might have to repeat that. You can repeat as much as you want. Put it on a beautiful old sticky note on your mirror. Number two, here we are my favorite going no contact. I know it's not as easy as it is for some as others, and some situations are hard to do. Do that in obviously co-parenting littles, but as limited as possible.

(09:17)
Okay? So that's blocking on socials. Even if you just check their page or you're not following them necessarily, no, every exposure is another dopamine hit. Okay? Think about it. I want you to suck that up. Why do you check their socials? It's actually a dopamine hit. It's reinforcing your cycle of what the shitty shit and the dopamine hit. We want to get rid of the cycle. Cold Turkey is hard, but it is clean. We love a good clean break and it works faster than the slow trying to pull away from that dopamine ripping off the bandaid. And by the way, if you need help doing this and support, that's what I'm here for. So check out the ways to work with me in my show notes always there and my emails there. If you have any questions about what I think you need, you can always email me too.

(10:14)
Alright. Number three, flood your nervous system with safety. We can't think our way out of this. This is a body thing. This is where the somatic work comes in. And I do somatic work with most of my clients. We need to feel safe in our bodies. That's where all of the somatic energy healing comes. So this, and it's like, oh, somatic. We're not going to get crazy going into somatic healing today. I'm going to give you a few examples of what you can do. Getting a walk in nature, grounding with your bare feet. Yes, go hippie on me. Okay, orienting practice. I think I've talked about this one, but you're looking around, you're naming what you see often. I will tell myself, prompt myself, okay, find four aqua things in the room. Aqua is a little harder than red, right? So I like a little challenge or find four different patterns.

(11:10)
Find what are two smells I can smell? What are three sounds? I can hear the birds chirping, right? The air filter that's blowing the TV two rooms away. It makes you present. Breath work, even cold water. I don't mess with cold water. I don't care. I don't care how much work I need. I'm never doing the cold water plunge. Okay? But you do, you boo boo. So you calm your body, you clear your mind. And yes, those might be momentary, but hey, they all add up. If you want to do deeper work, hit me up. Number four, rewire the belief that you need them. Let's say it for the people in the back, in the way, way back, rewire the belief that you need them. Start affirming. Have you heard of affirmations? Yeah. Love shouldn't hurt.

(12:04)
And maybe save this episode or write these down. You can repeat 'em. Love shouldn't hurt. I don't chase chaos. I choose peace. And this one, okay, I was taught conditioned that this was love. It is not. And I get to learn a new way, the real way, by the way. So you're not just detoxing from them. I'm going to repeat this. I really feel this in my heart that you need to hear it. You're not just detoxing from them. You're detoxing from the belief that love equals pain. Okay? You're so used to that. It was just part of the bargain, part of the deal. No, no ma'am.

(13:04)
So detox from that belief, and you can keep those affirmations so you don't really miss them. I know it feels like that. You miss the illusion, the validation, the love bombing, the dopamine, the feeling special when they would put you in those moments. And the good news is you can give yourself everything you were chasing in them. Do you know that? Work with me, queen. You're going to be a confident as queen. Upgrade. We're upgrading our confidence here. If this episode hit home, go share it. Is there someone else who could use this that that's feeling hooked? Okay, save it. Let's normalize this part of the healing journey, because shame has no seat at our table or our throne, whatever you want to call it. If you want more help unwinding trauma from your nervous system, let's grab your intake call and start our journey.

(14:11)
The intake call, it's about an hour and a half, an hour to an hour and a half, depending how far we go in your story. It's really me getting a background. We usually have time to do a little somatic exercise together, and then that sets you up and sets me up with the information so that we can start our really deep work together, like lasting work. And I say that because Somatic Healing was a life changer for me. I did therapy for years. I love therapy. I love all the shit, but the somatic healing, and I do both. We do a little therapy, but we also, we really focus on feeling better and safe in the body too, right? Because the body remembers everything. That's where it sits. That's where we upset. Stomach, stress, shoulders, all these symptoms that we get can be so related to our nervous system being so jacked up from all the years of dealing with this crap, right?

(15:18)
Yeah. We work on the brain stuff too, the mind stuff. How to deal with the narcs in your life if you're still involved with them at all that. But we do both so that you can have a complete healing and really a healing that not just the foundation, but then afterwards you actually get to thrive, right? You're getting this, I almost picture it like a, what's it? A vault? You've run what? Jump on that vault and then you're limitless. You might feel like that's not even attainable right now. So I won't go too deep into that. I know it can feel far away, but I'm telling you, I've been there. I have gone through a lot of shit in my life and I am an amazing peace bubble in my life. I'm unshakeable. I know my truth. I don't take the bait of any freaking narcissist anymore.

(16:16)
I have way more confidence and self-trust. Even more important than confidence is my self trust. You can get there. If I can get there, you can get there. Okay? So if you're interested in doing this work, one-on-one links are in the show notes or email me. Alright? Felt some passion up in here, but you are not alone. You're not broken. You're finally freeing yourself, right? This was a trauma bond and we're taking the scissors and we're cutting them, by the way. Ooh. I also want you to go in the show notes. There's also an energetic cord cutting episode I have. I think I actually have two of 'em. There's a longer one and a Thrive in five. If you don't know, I do thrive in fives on Thursdays. They're five minutes around. Five minutes. I'm chatty. So maybe 10 somatic healing exercises every single Thursday to get that hands-on ship. Okay? So I'll put those two episodes in the show notes as well. All right, see you in the next step. Love you. Bye.

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Why You Don’t Trust Yourself After Narcissistic Abuse (And 3 Ways to Rebuild It)

If you’ve ever left a narcissistic relationship and thought, “How did I not see that?” or “Why don’t I trust my judgment anymore?” you’re not alone. One of the most damaging effects of narcissistic abuse is the way it erodes your self-trust.

Gaslighting, manipulation, and emotional conditioning slowly train you to question your own reality. Over time, you start doubting your instincts, your memories, and even your smallest decisions.

In this episode, Christy Jade explains why narcissistic abuse breaks your ability to trust yourself and shares three powerful ways to start rebuilding that trust so you can reclaim your peace, confidence, and inner authority.

Calm & Clarity Reset Call

Feeling overwhelmed, stuck in obsessive thoughts, or unsure what to do next in your healing journey?

This focused 60-minute session is designed to help you calm your nervous system, gain clarity on what you're experiencing, and walk away with clear next steps to protect your peace.

Book your Calm & Clarity Reset Call:
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/calm-and-clarity-reset-call/

Transformational Coaching (3-Month Deep Dive)

This container is designed for women ready to break free from trauma bonds, rebuild self-trust, and create strong boundaries after narcissistic abuse. Together we work through mindset, somatic healing, emotional regulation, and practical boundary tools.

Apply for the 3-Month Deep Dive:
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/transformational-coaching-quarterly/

6-Month Queens of Peace Coaching Container

For deeper healing and long-term transformation. This container supports women who want sustained guidance while rebuilding their identity, peace, and personal power after abuse.

Learn more:
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/6-month-queens-of-peace-program/

12-Month Queens of Peace Coaching Container

For women who want full support while completely rebuilding their life after narcissistic abuse. This container provides long-term guidance, accountability, and deep healing work.

Learn more:
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/12-month-queens-of-peace-program/

Additional Support & Resources

Boundaries Pocket Guide (Free)
https://christyjade.ck.page/ce79ea9250

Copy-Paste-Peace Scripts
https://christyjade.thrivecart.com/copy-paste-peace-scripts/

Empowered Boundaries Course
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/empowered-boundaries/

Join the Free Facebook Community
https://www.facebook.com/groups/christyjade

Contact:
00:00):

Good morning, Queens. It is Christie and we are diving right into it. I am sick, almost getting over this thing. So if my voice sounds a little froggy, you hear a lozenge tapping around my teeth, that's why. And maybe why this is a little late today. Usually I post it by 6:00 AM and it is now 9:15. So sorry for the delay, but hey, better late than ever? All right. So if you've ever left a narcissistic relationship and thought, how did I not see that? How did I stay so long? How did I do this to myself? How did I do this to my children? Why didn't I trust my gut? There were maybe some red flags. Why didn't I pay attention to them? And maybe now you find yourself second guessing everything. Your memories, your instincts, even small decisions like what to get at the store, what to eat, what to say in a text message.

(01:00)
If this is happening to you, I want you to hear this. You are not broken. Narcissistic abuse doesn't just hurt your heart. It erodes your ability to trust yourself. So today we're going to talk about why that happens and three ways to start rebuilding your self-trust. All right. So I'm your host, Christie Jade. Welcome if you are new here. Say hello. Follow my podcast so you get every episode. It's Tuesdays and Thursdays. And join the Facebook group. It's private and there's women just like you in there that are going through what you're going through and you can chatty chatsky and I post some quotes, sometimes the links to my podcast, and I'm going to start trying to do some mini videos in there. So definitely join that. That is in the description notes. So if you're here, you're probably someone who has experienced manipulation, gaslighting, emotional abuse, maybe physical abuse, maybe financial abuse from a narcissistic person.

(02:07)
And hold on. I'm going to spit out my laws and you get to hear this lovely. I didn't do video this week because no one needs to see what's happening. All right. So one of the most painful things that happens after a relationship with a narcissist is something people don't really talk about enough. You don't just lose the relationship. You lose trust in yourself. And often we lose a relationship and think, "Oh, I'm going to find this freedom. I'm going to feel so good. This is so hard, but at least I'm going to be free." But that freedom has a little price tag with it. And that is that often we have lost our trust in ourselves and maybe other people, right? But today we're talking about the self-trust that we do lose. And I hear it from clients all the time. I've been through it.

(02:59)
They say things like, "I don't trust my judgment anymore. I feel like I missed all the flags." Or maybe they saw a sliver, but all the good stuff kind of overrode it and they tried to rationalize it. Then they wonder, "What if I fall for this again?" That's a big question, right? And so I want to unpack why this happens and how to begin rebuilding that trust in yourself because here's the truth. Your intuition was not broken. It was buried under manipulation. Okay? So let's start with why this happens. Because once you understand the mechanism, it becomes much easier to stop blaming yourself because I really ... None of us look good in the blame crown. We want that shiny, gold, empowering crown that we deserve. So narcissistic relationships slowly train you to doubt your reality, right? This often happens through something called gaslighting, which many of you have probably heard of if you're in this narcissistic realm now.

(04:08)
Some of you may not, but it's when someone repeatedly denies your experience or they twist reality so you start questioning yourself. You might say something like, "That hurts my feelings." And they say, "You're too sensitive," or, "That never happened," or, "You're remembering it wrong. You're crazy. You're way too much." And when this happens over and over again, something very important starts to happen inside your brain. It's a real thing. Your brain begins to think, "Maybe I am wrong." And eventually you start doing something that feels safer in the moment. You start doubting yourself before they can even doubt you. Your brain learns that trusting yourself leads to conflict. Okay? I want to repeat that again. This is something we don't really know when we're in it. Your brain learns that trusting yourself, which you're supposed to do, but it is conditioned to think, which is your reality in the situation, that it leads to conflict.

(05:19)
And narcissists design that way on purpose. But questioning yourself keeps the peace. It keeps you safe in your situation. So you begin overriding your instincts. You ignore the gut feeling. You explain away the red flags. You tell yourself, "Oh, you're overreacting. You're just sensitive." And over time, this creates a deep wound to your self-trust. So when that relationship ends, you're left thinking, "How did I miss this? " But the truth is you didn't miss it. You were trained to override it. Okay? You didn't miss it. It was there, but you've been conditioned. And that conditioning takes some time to undo, but it can be done. Okay? So the three self-trust wounds survivors experience. We'll talk about those before we get into, let's fix this junk. All right? Most survivors experience three common self-trust wounds after narcissistic abuse. So the first is constant second guessing, right?

(06:30)
You question your memories, you replay conversations. You wonder if you're being too harsh or too forgiving. Even simple decisions can feel overwhelming because you're afraid of making the wrong choice. And the second wound is decision paralysis. I'm sure you're familiar with this one. When your confidence in your judgment has been shaken, your brain starts trying to avoid mistakes. So instead of choosing, you freeze. You ask 10 people for advice. You research endlessly. You overthink constantly because part of you is still afraid that trusting yourself will lead to danger as it did in the past, as we mentioned.

(07:18)
And the third wound is outsourcing your intuition. Instead of really getting calm with yourself, and that's why I'm such a big advocate of prayer and meditation, right? Spending time with yourself and relearning, retrusting yourself. But instead of checking in, you look to others for validation because you don't trust yourself. So what do you think I should do? Am I being unreasonable? Is this normal? And while support is sometimes helpful, healing means eventually coming back to the most important voice, which is your own. And I'm a God person. You don't have to be, but I am going to talk about God here on my podcast because I'm a God person and I relate that your own voice, your intuition to me is the Holy Spirit. So getting connected enough with yourself so that you are open to hearing God's voice.

(08:20)
So what are the three ways to rebuild that self-trust? The good news is this. You don't rebuild it through huge life decisions first. Okay? We do baby sparkle steps, small daily evidence. Okay? So number one, start with tiny decisions, tiny decisions. And I've done this on some of the somatic healing journeys we go through. I've had a couple people where we go through, we literally envision going shopping together and just choosing things you like because some people are so conditioned. They say they can't even go to a store and pick out a piece of artwork or a new coffee table because they second guess themselves so much because they've been conditioned this way. So somatic healing is an amazing way to recover from this. But anyway, so start with simple questions like, "What do I want to eat this morning? Like what do I really want to eat?

(09:22)
What would really make me happy to eat right now? Or what actually sounds fun right now?

(09:30)
Or what would feel good for my body today?" They seem like tiny things, especially to people who haven't gone through this, right? But every time you make a choice based on your own voice, you're sending your brain a powerful message. You're saying, "My preference matters. My voice matters." Self-trust is built through hundreds of small decisions, not one huge one, which is the good news because you can do tiny decisions. You can start with that. So as I mentioned, meditation, prayer goes under the umbrella of number two, reconnecting with your body. So after narcissistic abuse, many people live almost entirely in your head, right? You analyze everything. You think everything through, but your body is actually where a lot of wisdom is held. Your nervous system sends signals like a tight feeling in your chest, a sinking feeling in your stomach, or a sense of calm and expansion, right?

(10:43)
So learning to notice these signals, right? Stopping and getting in touch with your body. Again, prayer and meditation can be very similar. You're in quiet. You're with yourself. You have no distractions. It's just you and the big man upstairs, right?

(11:04)
I like to pray first, kind of like, "Dear God, please let me relax and help me not be distracted right now and shine the light on what you would like me to feel and know in this moment." And if there's specific things, you get into that, either in prayer or meditation and notice what's happening to your body. Sometimes your body knows the truth before your mind is ready to accept it. That can happen, right? That's why this somatic work, grounding exercises or simply pausing to ask, "How does this feel in my body?" Can be powerful. I do that a lot. I go, "Okay, if my brain is like, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. " Which I had actually a big situation like that recently. Guilt was coming up of saying no to something. And I said, "All right, body, it's time.

(12:04)
What is my body saying?" And immediately I knew my throat was tight, my shoulders were up to my damn ears. My body was saying, "No, I can't and I don't want to do this. " You have to listen to your body, all right? The body is very, very powerful. We just need to tap into it. All right? So the third thing, keep small promises to yourself.

(12:35)
Self-trust grows through follow through. Okay? So you make huge commitments or huge, "I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. " You can set yourself up for a letdown and to worsen the self-trust, right? So a smaller promise could be going for a walk you said you take, right? That self-care. So saying, "You know what? This week, Thursday at four o'clock, no matter what, I'm going for a 10 minute walk. We're talking small commitments. Okay? Next week you can make a 20, a 10 minute walk just to be with myself, to clear my head, to feel my body. It could be speaking up about something small or saying no when something doesn't feel right. Maybe that doesn't have to be a big decision this week, but maybe someone asks you to do a favor and say, Oh, hey, can you meet me up at the church to put together the cupcake, whatever, I don't know, before the bake sale.

(13:49)
And you are really spread thin and you're realizing you need some more time for you, which is okay. You don't have to be everywhere for everyone. You could say, "You know what? I don't have time for that, but thank you for asking and I'd love to help in the future." Okay? No committing to anything else right now or you're committing to yourself right now or setting a boundary and sticking to it. This could be even with your kids. Maybe you are someone who has some guilt from staying in a bad situation and you feel bad and so you let your kids get away with the lot of stuff and they've been pushing more boundaries lately. And this week your teen is really upset and they think you're the worst because you don't let them do X, Y, Z. Everyone else does this and that, and you always cave.

(14:52)
This week, maybe you don't cave. Maybe you say, "I love you. I need to do what I think is right for you. " And you can't go to that party when you have a test the next day, whatever it is, setting the boundary and sticking to it. You've got to stick to it. So each time you do that, you're telling your nervous system, "I've got you, baby. I've got you. " And over time, those small moments stack up until one day you realize something amazing. You're not asking everyone else what to do anymore. You're checking in with you first.

(15:37)
And it's not going to be overnight, but it can happen. Just practice these little sparkle steps, do some somatic healing with me, right? If you take one thing from this episode, I want it to be this, okay? The narcissist did not destroy your intuition. It is not kaboom, boom, bow, gone. They simply taught you to ignore it. They did. They conditioned you. They did it on purpose and screw them, but that's another episode. Okay? Healing is the process of remembering your inner voice was always there. It was always there and it's still there. I always say, right? It's like I have a book called Solid Gold Mama. It's the same kind of idea. We have this solid gold inside of us, right? That's our intuition. That's our Holy Spirit. That's God's word. It's there. It does not go anywhere. You cannot damage or undo solid gold.

(16:41)
You just can't. It's there. It's beautiful. It gets covered up by dirt. It gets covered up by mud. It might get dinks that pop right back out though. They will pop back out, but you cannot destroy that beautiful solid gold inside of you. And the more you listen to your intuition, the more solid it stays. The more when someone tries to kick it, it can't even get dinked. Okay? Is dink a word? I want to stop saying dink right now. All right? But if rebuilding self-trust is something you're working on, this is the work we do inside my coaching containers, right? Helping women reclaim their peace, protect your power, and rebuild trust in yourself after this abuse. And you can find all the links in the show notes. I do have three programs that are three, six, and 12 months. If you would like to get a taste of this amazing work, there is a one-off call you can do so we can chat, see if it's a good fit, and do maybe a little tapping.

(17:59)
If you don't know what tapping is, it's so fun.

(18:04)
We can work on that, depending on how the call goes. Sometimes it's mostly talking. We'll try to fit something in at the end. If it's not a lot of talking, we can have a longer session. It's whatever you need will happen. And you have to trust that. I know that's hard for us, but trust that that will happen. No session is the same. No one session is the same for all my clients and even within one of my clients. I have clients that have been with me for years and none of their sessions are ever the same. And it is amazing work. So when you sign on, we do long-term. In the beginning, it might be a little more talking and some somatic. Some clients come in and where they are, they talk a little and most of the session can be somatic. Or it might be one session, they're really drained and just want to have a quiet somatic session, or they feel really chatty and they want to talk and get out their stuff and then navigate how to work with their co-parent.

(19:11)
And then the next week we'll calm their nervous system with the beautiful joy ride soul cation. There is so much magic in this work. I just love it. I love it. I love it. Obviously, that's why I do it. So if you're interested in doing one of those calls, whether it's a one-off call or diving right into one of the programs where you do save money, the longer you commit, that's just how these things work, right? All those options are in the show notes. And again, join the Facebook group. There's a boundaries, little freebie pocket guide. If you're not the best at boundaries, there is actually an empowered boundaries course. That's there if you want to check that out. All my stuff's always in the show notes. Okay? And if you have any questions, my email's always there too. FiercemamaC@gmail and you can write me, just say hello.

(20:05)
I answer every single email myself, which won't be forever. I am getting more emails and more clients and all of that, but while it's there, take advantage of it and say hello and I will write you back directly. All right. I hope you guys have a beautiful Tuesday, Wednesday, whenever you listen to this. And don't forget, Thursday is our Thrive in Five, and that will be a beautiful and related to today's episode, Somatic Healing Experience. So I hope you all can join me for that. So definitely, again, follow the podcast. This is an ongoing journey that every episode builds on the last one. So it's like this stacked journey of joy. All right? I love you guys. I'll see you in the next one. Bye.

Seeing the narcissist appear happy, thriving, or “better off without you” can trigger a wave of anger, sadness, and self-doubt. Many survivors of narcissistic abuse find themselves measuring their healing by what the narcissist’s life looks like now.

In this Thrive in 5 episode, Christy Jade walks you through a short EFT tapping practice to help calm your nervous system and break the mental loop of comparing your life to theirs.

Because the truth is this: your healing has nothing to do with whether the narcissist seems to be winning. Your healing is about reclaiming your peace, your power, and your focus.

If you’ve been stuck checking their social media, wondering if they’re happier, or feeling triggered when it looks like they’ve moved on quickly, this episode will help you shift your energy back where it belongs — on your life.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why your brain keeps tracking what the narcissist is doing after the relationship
• The nervous system pattern that keeps survivors focused on the narcissist
• How EFT tapping can interrupt obsessive thinking and emotional triggers
• A guided tapping sequence to release the need to monitor their life

Feeling stuck in the mental loop of the narcissist? Let’s reset it.

If you’re tired of the obsessive thoughts, emotional triggers, or constantly replaying what happened, my Calm & Clarity Reset Call is designed to help you shift out of that spiral quickly.

In this focused 1:1 session we’ll calm your nervous system, untangle what’s actually keeping you stuck, and create clear next steps so you can move forward with confidence.

Book your Reset Call here:
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/calm-and-clarity-reset-call/

3-Month Coaching Container: Reclaim Your Peace

This container is designed for women who are ready to stabilize their nervous system, rebuild self-trust, and start creating real emotional freedom after narcissistic abuse.

Apply here:
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/transformational-coaching-quarterly/

6-Month Coaching Container: Queens of Peace

For deeper healing and long-term transformation. Together we work through trauma patterns, boundaries, nervous system regulation, and rebuilding the life you want after abuse.

Apply here:
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/6-month-queens-of-peace-program/

12-Month Coaching Container

This is the highest level of support for women ready to fully reclaim their power and build a life that feels peaceful, confident, and aligned.

Apply here:
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/12-month-queens-of-peace-program/

Additional Support & Resources

Boundaries Pocket Guide (Free)
https://christyjade.ck.page/ce79ea9250

Copy-Paste-Peace Scripts
https://christyjade.thrivecart.com/copy-paste-peace-scripts/

Empowered Boundaries Course
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/empowered-boundaries/

Free Facebook Community
https://www.facebook.com/groups/christyjade

Contact:
00:00):

Hello. I have to do some intro music because I don't have time to do the whole thing this week. So we're going to go. I forgot my music. Welcome back to Narcissistic Abuse Recovery with me. How's that? Should that be my new diddy? All right. So you guys, yes, it's been a crazy week, kind of a tough week. If I'll be honest, we all have our weeks. A kind of tough week for me. I know I want to talk about stuff more, so maybe I'll take that opportunity. So also connect in the Facebook group, you guys. Don't forget. Don't forget. It's always in the show notes. You can join there. It's a private group. So it's not public. No one can see it. And there's questions to make sure no sketchies or bots get in there. You have to provide your email, all of that good stuff so we know it's like a safe place to chat.

(00:56)
That being said, yeah, there's been some shifts and I am very excited to really focus on my business and just really concentrating on my book. I've been working on my book, if you guys don't know that, which is related to narcissistic abuse recovery. Very excited about it. And I have some really cool leads where hopefully it will be able to get seen and impact more people than I hoped even. So cross your fingers and pray for that. You know my goal is to help as many women as I can deal with ... And men. I've had men write me too that listen to this podcast. So thank you. Thank you. This advice is not just for women. That's true. I just happened to specialize in working with women because I'm a woman and I know the woman things. But also if you hear it, I don't know if I'm getting sick or it's the crazy weather here in the DMV.

(02:00)
I live right outside of Washington DC. And right now it's dropping dramatically to 30 something degrees when it was 84 degrees yesterday. It's wild. It's been absolutely wild weather here. So hold on to your seats where you are too. I heard there's some weird shifting in Colorado or Utah too, just some weird weather patterns. So here we are. Anyway, but I wanted to connect about ... I'm on this journey and sometimes we have to pivot and people like us who have gone through a lot sometimes are afraid to say no or afraid to make decisions that may impact other people and stay stuck because we have a tendency to people please. And we kind of have that, "Oh, I want people to like me and whatever." It's like this conditioning when you've gone through abusive situations where you feel like, "Yeah, I really don't want to upset anyone." And that's a great goal.

(03:30)
We never want to upset anyone, right? But sometimes when things are not aligned in whatever way, you do have to make decisions and you have to do what is right for you, which usually, let's be honest, is right for everyone because you're not going to be the best you if you stay in a relationship and whatever situation, if you're staying out of fear. So if you're in any situation right now where you're staying out of fear of either letting someone down, which is, that's my biggest thing. I do not like to let people down. It will eat at me and that's something I've worked on. And so my body, look, my somatic body's still catching up with that a little bit. I know it's okay to do and that we're not going to make everyone a thousand percent happy all of the time. However, my body still is a little stuck going, "Oh, but it still feels bad a little bit." So that's why we do these certain things like tapping we're going to do today.

(04:50)
It's an example to show you this is like life doesn't stop lifeing. Your feelings don't stop. When you're quote healing, that doesn't mean you don't feel things or you don't get triggered or you don't have certain reactions. It's having the tools with, well, how do you deal with it when it comes up? So yes, this week I've had triggers, I've had guilty feelings, all sorts of stuff come out and I have the tools that I have so my body and nervous system can go, "You're still safe. It's not the end of the world. Your brain knows that, but this body over here is having a little trouble." So you're going to have reactions. Today we're going to do tapping around watching them move on. This is a theme that has come up with multiple clients of mine. So like recently, so I noticed a pattern and was like, maybe this is God telling me I need to do a tapping session in general.

(05:51)
And I was first just going to put it on like YouTube, like do a short on YouTube or Instagram and maybe I'll still do that. But I felt like, well, where's my real audience? Where are my peeps? And you're here. So even though we're on audio, I'm going to walk you through and tell you what to do with the tapping. I'm doing a video. I look like trash because I'm not feeling very well, but I'm going to put the video on YouTube. So I will link that in the show notes so you are able to get the visual if you want it and just don't mind my trash look. Today, what is it? Thursday? Thursday's trash look like Christie. All right. So watching them move on. First we're going to talk about it real quick. Watching them move on is never easy. Even if let's say you're the one who decided to end the relationship, you're the one who decided to walk away or just you know it wasn't right and that they were mistreating you, all of this.

(06:51)
And you're like, "Well, why do I still care? Why am I still looking at their social media? Why am I still upset when I see my ex, let's say it's co-parenting." When I see him now dating someone and logically you get upset with yourself going, "Why do I care? I know he's not good for me. I don't want to be with him. He's awful. Why do I care?" But that is a part of this. It's because you've been so conditioned by this type of person and that's a whole other episode in and of itself. Part of that can be worse tying to comparison. They have moved on and maybe you haven't or they move on and you look at this new person thinking, "Oh my God, is she better than me? " Do they think she's nicer? Are they going to treat her so good?

(07:50)
Thinking that this partner's going to change, which no, they'll treat her like trash eventually too. They will love Bomb like they did with you in the beginning, right? But a leopard's a leper, right? Those spots don't change with narcissist usually. Also, what do we call that 0.0060147% that change? Maybe, but let's not hold our breath for that. So you get my point, right? You often want to look at yourself and have that strength to say, "I don't care. I don't care." But you're human and you've been conditioned and there are worth issues for you that have stemmed from being in a relationship like this where you are now trying to figure out your worth by what they're doing. And so we're going to end that. We're going to end that today. So with tapping, you tap certain points. Now I got to put ... Where am I going to put my microphone?

(08:54)
I didn't think about this. I'm holding my microphone because I'm in my bed today. It's a lazy day. I usually have it on a desk, so I'm going to have to figure out what to do with that. But the tapping points, when you tap them, you do this karate chop point in the beginning. That's to activate. I call them like the energy channels, right? Where this stuff really gets more embodied in your body rather than just words. Words are great too. Repetition. There's all sorts of things that can help rewire the brain. Tapping it in your body is another level where you're doing these points and your body's starting to viscerally feel and accept, right? Kind of digest what you're saying with your brain now that's signaling your body once you're opening these channels. So it's finally working in parallel rather than just the brain going, "Oh yeah, I know logically I shouldn't care." But your body's like, "But I care." Right?

(09:46)
Does that make sense? Good. All right. So this practice will help release the habit of measuring your healing by what a former partner, friend, boss, whatever, parent is doing with their life. Maybe it's after you have cut them off, maybe you're co-parenting. This is the one that's come up a lot in the last couple of weeks for my clients, seeing that they really are having trouble with seeing their exes move on and questioning themselves because of it. So it's bringing focus back to you, your body, your nervous system, and your own healing, because that's what matters. What they're doing really has nothing to do with you, but I know sometimes that's hard for us to ... We can hear it, but to process it is a very different thing, right? All right. So that being said, let's start. So it's good with tapping, so you just get a sense.

(10:51)
You first will rate zero to 10. You will ask, when you think about what their life looks like compared to yours in general, or with this person, a new person, or just in general, maybe they got this amazing job or they got the gorgeous house or the race car or the donuts. Okay. Notice how activated your body is, right? How do you feel? Not your thoughts, but really like, how's your body feeling? Rate it from zero to 10, the intensity of that anxiousness or annoyance or whatever comes up. We don't need to label the feeling. We're labeling the intensity of that feeling, zero to 10. So I'm going to zoom back on my own life. I had broken up with a narcissist, and I will tell you it was my choice.

(11:54)
At that point, finally, I had gone back to him and broken up, but when I really ended it the last time, I was very, very sure. When I ran into him, how many years later I had that visceral reaction. I had it in my body of, A, just him moving on. He was with someone else. I was like, all these thoughts of, "Oh, what if she's more this? What if she's more that? " Even though I didn't want to be with him, it was just how this kind of works. I'm trying to think viscerally what that would've been like then. Probably an eight and I wasn't even ... I mean, that was a couple years after. So that intensity, what is that, zero to 10? Just remember that number. And now we're going to go into the actual tapping. So of course, get settled and take a good halo breath through your nose and now at your mouth.

(12:52)
Let your body just settle a little bit. And all right. So the karate chop point. I guess it's good I'm holding my microphone because I'm going to have to describe it without doing it for you audio people. But no, I do need to find something. Hold on. Let me see.

(13:14)
Okay. So karate chop is halfway between the bottom of your pinky and the bottom of your palm on the side. So it's the sides of your hands in the middle there, in the meaty part, each hand. And if you're watching, you can see me. Okay? If you're not, you basically put those in a cross position like perpendicular. So those spots are meeting and you're just bouncing, right? One, two, three. You just, you're karate chopping your hands together, opening the channel. This part you only have to do once when you are starting the rounds. We're going to do three rounds today. Yeah. Okay? So got your karate chop point. I got my little script. I made a beautiful script for you guys. All right. So you're going to repeat after me while you're just doing the karate chop point. As we're opening up, just listen to these words and repeat after me.

(14:20)
Even though I keep measuring my healing by what their life looks like, I deeply and completely accept myself.

(14:37)
Okay. Next. Even though part of me keeps checking, whether they're doing well or not, my nervous system learned to watch them to stay safe. Okay. Last one here. Even though my mind keeps going back to their life, I'm open to bringing my attention back to myself. All right. So now we're getting to the regular tapping part here. Okay? So we're going to have three rounds. Round one is acknowledging the pain. So let me tell you the points. As we go in round one, I'll tell you where to put your fingers. We're going to use your first, middle and ring finger, keep them together, right? Like they're little buddies, their cousins hanging out. And on the eyebrow, we're going to start right in the center, like where your eyebrow starts essentially, right? And you're just going to tap there and repeat everything after me. I'm not going to say it every time.

(15:48)
So anything I say, I'm giving you space to repeat. All right. So this is acknowledging the pain, round one.

(15:55)
So we're on that eyebrow point. I keep thinking about what their life looks like. Side of the eye on the temple, same three fingers. My mind keeps checking on them. Under the eye, that orbital bone right there. Are they happy? Are they struggling? Now under the nose, this is halfway between the nose and the upper lip. It feels like that somehow means something about me. Chin, just in the middle of the chin. My brain learned to monitor them. Then we go to the collarbone. I kind of spread my fingers out a little bit here. That's what helped me survive the relationship.

(17:04)
You can do underarm where the bra strap would lay on the side of your body. My nervous system got used to tracking them. They were going to bring it to the top of the head, right in the center, so that your three fingers are like in a line front to back. And that habit is still there. Round two, we're doing understanding the nervous system here. Okay? Back to the eyebrow. My brain still thinks I need to watch them. Side of the eye, temple, as if their life determines my healing. Under the eye. But that's an old survival pattern.

(18:10)
Under the nose. My body was trained to stay focused on them. Now the chin, but I don't have to live there anymore. Collarbone. I can start bringing the focus back to me. Underarm. My healing lives in my body. That's right, Queen. Back to top of the head. Not in what their life looks like. Okay. For round three, reclaiming focus. Okay, go back to that eyebrow. I'm allowed to stop measuring my healing by them. Side eye. I can measure healing by my peace. Yes. It's the good stuff. Round three is always the best. Under the eye, by my calm, under the nose, by my boundaries.

(19:42)
The chin. My ability to choose myself. Collarbone. My nervous system learning safety again. Underarm. My life getting bigger. Top of the head. And them becoming less important. All right. Now place a hand on your heart. Take a nice, slow inhale through the nose and release. Notice your body. Ask yourself what feels different in my body right now. Not your emotions, what feels different? Small shifts in your breath. Your shoulders, tension, your chest. All signs that your nervous system is healing. That shift is actual healing. So going back to that zero to 10 scale, we started where maybe it was a seven or an eight. What is it now?

(21:14)
I imagine it's dropped. That's why we do this, right? And that is proof that your body absolutely can heal through this type of work, right? Through rewiring plus coding it through the body with methods like tapping. There are many more, but tapping is always a fun intro one. So if you want more, if you want more, if you want one-on-one somatic healing like this with the coaching and navigating like we do all of it, I will have all of my offers listed. I do have ... Let's see. Let me look. I think I have two more openings for the month of March for my special calm and clarity reset calls. And I can tell you what is included in that. So that is one call. It's 60 minutes. It's a Zoom. It's to help calm the emotional overwhelm quickly, to feel grounded instead of reactive, a safe space to talk through what's happening, and then personalized boundary or response guidance.

(22:35)
And then a clear next step, plan. What do you need to do next? And then options for continued support. So ongoing support is what makes true transformation, obviously. So this can be a lead into that. This can be a, "Oh, I'm curious about this work. Let me try it. " And if you like it, you can have ongoing support with me once a week and work on not just the mindset, not just navigating. And we do that and that's great, but also this mind-blowing body work, this somatic healing that to me was the missing piece of the puzzle for so many years. So you'll walk away with a calmer nervous system, right? Not just talking it out. Sometimes we can talk it out and feel worse or just heavy. And then the clearest next step for your situation. And then if you want to work on a script, a boundary, a response plan, if you're in a situation made with a co-parent or a parent, your own parent, whatever the situation is so that you can just have some clarity and calm because those are a big part of peace.

(23:54)
And you know, I'm the queen of peace over here. So I hope you enjoyed this. And definitely look at, go check out the Calm and Clarity Reset call, sign up for that. And then if you know you want ongoing work, which some people just jump into, I have three, six, and 12 month options. Everything's listed in my description box. Okay? So definitely come, do the one-on-one work. You deserve it. There is so much transformation that you can have that you have no idea the joy and peace you can feel until you do this work, especially if you're someone who went through a lot of childhood stuff. You may not know what it feels like to be at peace and to be clearheaded and to trust yourself. And we do all of that work, but that is, you got to show up. And that is the ongoing work to do that level of transformation.

(24:56)
So if what you want to do right now is just a one-off call to just get a little nervous system calm and a little direction, great. If you want to see about ongoing work but want to test it out, that call's great for that too. And if you just want to dive the hell in, like some of my clients do, they skip that call and they're like, "I know I need to do this. " There are all those options too. And with those calls also, the longer you sign up, there are different pricing tiers you do save if you sign up for a little longer term and you get the benefits of getting access to me every day, not all day, every day. I got a life guys, but on an app called Voxer. So you can text or leave voice message for me between the weekly calls, which my clients love this bonus.

(25:54)
And this is only with the ongoing packages, but it's great for when you're just spinning out and you need a little either talk it out or a little, I give customized even like tappings or affirmations, customized different little somatic methods I can give through the app. And or if someone's asking, right? I have co-parents ask advice like, "Oh my gosh, he just wrote me this. What should I respond?" Stuff like that. Okay? So it is a great, great bonus you have when you do ongoing work with me. But either way, sign up. If you have not done somatic healing, let's do it. Can we please do this together? It's amazing. So sign up there and don't forget to follow. Like I said, this is an ongoing thing. So you want to get as many of these episodes in as you can. Thursdays are the Thrive in Five.

(26:52)
So that's the ones you want to save and you can use at your leisure when things come up to help your body chill, your mind chill. So don't forget to follow on whatever platform you're on so you don't miss any of these episodes. Okay? All right. You are queens. I love you guys so much. I will let you go and I will see you in the next one. Bye.

Have you ever noticed that just when you start moving on… the narcissist suddenly becomes kind again? Sweet messages. Apologies. Promises to change. It can make you question everything.

In this episode, Christy explains the manipulation tactic known as hoovering—why narcissists suddenly act nice when they feel you pulling away, how this behavior fits into the narcissistic abuse cycle, and what you can do to protect your peace. If you've ever wondered whether their sudden kindness means they've truly changed, this episode will give you clarity.

🎧 Listen to the episode:
https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-fh2h2-1945389

Your Next Step in Healing

If you're dealing with hoovering, emotional manipulation, or the lingering effects of narcissistic abuse, you don't have to navigate it alone. These patterns can be confusing and exhausting—but clarity and peace are possible.

Working together can help you break trauma bonds, rebuild self-trust, and confidently protect your boundaries.

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3-Month Transformational Coaching Container
This container is designed for women who want focused support breaking free from narcissistic abuse patterns, strengthening boundaries, and reclaiming their peace.

https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/transformational-coaching-quarterly/

6-Month Queens of Peace Coaching Container
For deeper transformation, this program helps you fully rebuild self-trust, emotional stability, and confidence after narcissistic abuse.

https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/6-month-queens-of-peace-program/

12-Month Queens of Peace Coaching Container
The most comprehensive option for women who want sustained support while rebuilding their life, identity, and relationships after narcissistic abuse.

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Additional Support & Resources

Boundaries Pocket Guide (Free)
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Copy-Paste-Peace Scripts
Exact scripts to handle narcissistic texts and manipulation.
https://christyjade.thrivecart.com/copy-paste-peace-scripts/

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https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/empowered-boundaries/

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Related Episode

How to Spot a Narcissist in 60 Seconds
One of the most popular episodes of the show. Learn the fast red flags that reveal narcissistic behavior early.
https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-4sj92-15e6a4b

Contact

Email: 00:00):

Ever notice this? You finally start pulling away from the narcissist, you get strong, you get fierce and queeny, and suddenly they're nice again, overly nice. Sweet texts, apologies, promises. Today, we're talking about why narcissists suddenly act nice and the manipulation tactic called hoovering that pulls so many people back in. Welcome to your Thursday Thrive In Five, your five-minute pause from the chaos, the gaslighting, and that text you knew better than to reply to. Take a breath queen, this one's for you. All right, queens. It is Christie with the Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Podcast. Welcome back or welcome if you are a newbie, a newbie queen. Welcome to the show. Today, we're talking about something that confuses almost everyone who has dealt with a narcissist. You start getting your power back, right? You stop chasing them. You stop overexplaining yourself or explaining yourself at all. And out of nowhere, they're nice again.

(01:10)
And you're like, "What just happened? What's happening?" And this usually shows up right when you start detaching. So maybe you stop texting back so fast because you are losing the conditioning that everything is urgent when it's not. Maybe you set a boundary and say, "I'm not going to let you talk to me like X, Y, Z anymore." Maybe you emotionally checked out. Maybe it's been a while, you are burnt out from their nasty, sticky, ugly spiderweb and you're just disconnected. And suddenly they miss you. They appreciate you. They're sorry. I have quotes up if you can't see me in the video. If you're just on audio, I'm putting a little quotation over that, sorry, because they're fake apologies. Okay? Or our personal favorite here, "I've been doing a lot of thinking." And your brain goes, "Wait, maybe they are really changing." But what you may be experiencing is called hoovering.

(02:19)
So what is hoovering? It is named after yes, the vacuum brand, because the narcissist is trying to suck you back in. When they feel you pulling away, they switch strategies. Instead of criticism, they'll give charm. Instead of distance, they will give you and shower you maybe even with attention. Instead of blaming you, they will give apologies. But the goal usually is not healing. The goal is regaining access to you. I'm going to repeat that again. Their goal is not healing, which it would be lovely if it was, but it is regaining access to you and control over you. In case you're new here, all narcissists seek really is control and that feeds them. So why do they suddenly act nice? There's a few reasons this happens. First, they feel that control slipping. When you stop reacting, it changes the whole dynamic. They love a good reaction.

(03:29)
It shows them that you're under their control, that you are affected by them and they love it. It feeds them. It literally feeds them. So the narcissists rely heavily on emotional reactions. So when that supply, as we call it in this world, narcissistic supply, when that supply disappears, they try to get it back. Second, they want to reset the cycle. So narcissistic relationships usually move through phases. We have the love bombing, right? And that's like right when you meet them, they love bomb you to get you. And then that comes back. There are these cycles. So love bombing, devaluing. That's when they start treating you poorly. Even they can start out slow sometimes where just like little dismissive comments that just kind of like beat you down a little by little emotionally, maybe physically, right? They're devaluing you. And then the discard where they really are treating you almost like trash.

(04:35)
And then comes the hoovering. That's the cycle reset. So if they can pull you back in, the pattern starts again. So they will do that love bombing. The hoover you in, love bomb you, go back to devaluing and discard, push you to that edge again, bring you back in. It is a hideous, hideous cycle. Why it is so confusing. Here's the tricky part. Sometimes during hoovering, they really do seem different. They're good at what they do usually. They're kinder, more thoughtful. One of my recent clients, an ongoing client of mine, during one of these cycles, he was buying her all of a sudden, and this is years into it. She had really pulled away a lot, set major boundaries, left him. He hoovered her back in. And what happened? He love bombed her with trips, beautiful gifts. Let's do this to the house, whatever you want, baby.

(05:47)
Start being more thoughtful. Let me bring you coffee in the morning. This is such a perfect example of love bombing after Hoovering. And it will and can make you question everything. You start wondering, maybe I misunderstood them. The most common one I see is maybe they've changed. Something like ... They realize what they lost and now they're going to change. But what's important to look at is patterns over time. So real change does not show up as a few nice texts or even a couple trips, right? It shows up as consistency, accountability, respect for boundaries. So if you are in a phase, and I hope you're not, and I hope you don't get Hoover back in, but if you're in the midst of it right now and you've been Hoovered and you're back in and like, wait, he is acting, he or she is acting different.

(06:48)
You've got to maybe even test things, set a boundary, see their reaction, right? Do a couple boundaries. Really test for that accountability and not just lip service on things that matter, not just a nice gift, not the things that are easy emotionally, right? A little easier than actually emotionally having to show up. And most importantly, which this is the hard part, right? Is does it last? And unfortunately, if you're in it right now, you may not know that until you've been in this cycle a little longer. But if you know the cycle goes back and forth and back and forth like this, that should be enough clarity for you to say, "Oh, this is a big pattern. We've done this three times. We've done this eight times. We've done this 90 times. It's time for me to pick up and go. " So the question that changes everything, instead of asking, are they finally changing?

(07:57)
Try asking, does this match their long-term pattern?

(08:03)
Because narcissists often become the nicest version of themselves right when they feel they're losing you. Not because they've transformed, right? That's not why, but because they want the connection and the control back. They want that cycle back. So if the narcissist in your life suddenly becomes nice when you start to pull away, or even if you're co-parenting, right? And you'll probably go through this. And this is what really mind F's everybody in these situations because you'll be like, "But he was so nice. Wait." And then now he's acting whatever again. And it's like you can even forget sometimes in the midst of their niceness, just how awful they've been because you're swooped up in their niceness. So this can happen whether you are currently with someone or if you are having to deal with someone like an ex that you're co-parenting with, or maybe your parent that you are maybe a little distanced with, but you have to deal with them and you're confused because you're like, "Well, they're nice to me the last couple weeks." And then next week you don't know what's going to happen.

(09:21)
But secret is you do know. If there's all these narcissistic traits, and you can go through my episodes to find those episodes, I'll try to remember to link one of them, the traits of narcissism. You can figure out what and who they are and look for the patterns. So if they're nice to you when you start pulling away, when you start creating boundaries, when you're like, "I'm not doing this anymore," pause, breathe, breathe, do that halo breath in through the nose, out through the mouth and remember kindness during hoovering is often part of the cycle, right? Not the end of it, it's part of the cycle. It never ends at kindness. It never ends at love bombing. A cycle never ends.

(10:19)
The worst case scenario cycle is it ends when you have got the real short end of the stick in many ways, right? We don't want you getting there. We don't want you to get to that point. We want you to get out of this cycle, right? So your job is not to decode them, not to figure out, have they changed? You've seen the patterns. You know what's coming next. This is a cycle. It's a cycle. Cycles doesn't have an end, right? Your job isn't to figure that out. We figured it out for you. You're in a cycle and your job is to protect your peace, however you can do that. I know it's very hard if you are in a co-parenting situation, but there are ways to do that. Obviously, I would say right now, 90, 95% of my clients are co-parents, maybe a little less right now.

(11:31)
It goes up and down, but generally, it's usually at least 80% of my clients, right? Our co-parents in crazy situations, and we are able to, one, navigate them.

(11:44)
I help with that. And then two, help your nervous system. So no matter what situation you're in, the beauty of the somatic healing we do, that's the body, healing through the body, no matter what you're going through, we can help heal your body in any situation. So that's the beauty of this work, right? We can help you navigate. We can't control other people. We can't control what they say or do, but you can control and start to alter through healing, through the body healing, be able to start at a higher vibe, essentially, and be able to deal with more and navigate easier and start to know yourself, trust yourself, and be built strong like a bull with a queen's crown on, so that you can find more peace. Your job is to protect your peace. Your job is not to control them or to change them or to figure them out.

(12:48)
Your job is to protect yourself and your children, if that's the case.

(12:57)
So if you're dealing with any sort of narcissistic or toxic situation right now, and you want to have a one-on-one customized session with me, I will link my information in the show notes. It should be in the little description box. There's always my links to work with me, and you can email me with any questions. I read every single email, and just know that you're not alone. There's a Facebook community just waiting for you to join, and it's private. So I will link that in the show notes as well. So check out all the things in the show notes, and don't forget to follow, because this is a long term journey, right? Narcissistic abuse, and it ain't easy going through it. So in solidarity, be with your people, be with us, come listen to these. Thursdays are my shorter somatic healing little methods, tips, and tricks, and tools, little bite-size episodes that you can save for when you're having a moment, when you're spiraling, when you're questioning yourself.

(14:08)
So those are on Thursdays. So make sure you do follow my podcast so you get notifications, so you'd know when I'm like, "Hey girl, hey, it's time." Yes, Queen, it's time. So Tuesdays and Thursdays, and yes, if you have any questions at all, feel free to email me at fiercemamase@gmail. It's also in the description, and I hope you are having a beautiful day. Don't let the narcs keep you down. All right, shine your crown. I'll see you in the next one. Bye.

Narcissists love sending ‘urgent’ texts to hijack your peace. In this episode, Christy explains why they do it and how to shut it down fast—so you can stay calm, confident, and in control

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Want to stop second-guessing yourself and finally set boundaries that stick without the guilt spiral?
Download Christy’s free Boundaries Pocket Guide — designed to help you reclaim your peace and protect your power after narcissistic abuse.
✨ Grab it here → https://christyjade.kit.com/ce79ea9250

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Whether you’re newly out or years into recovery, support changes everything.
Here are 3 powerful ways to work with Christy:

✅ Reclaiming You: 1:1 Clarity & Intake Session
💻 Book here: https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/journey-to-peace-coaching-blueprint/

✅ 1-Month Private Coaching Container
💻 Apply here: https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/transformational-coaching-monthly/

✅ 3-Month Transformational Coaching Package
💻 Learn more: https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/transformational-coaching-quarterly/

🔗 Related Episodes You’ll Love:

🎧 Still Attached to the Narcissist? This Deep Cord Cutting Practice Can Help
👉 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/still-attached-to-the-narcissist-this-deep-cord/id1662241353?i=1000708306120

🎧 Thrive in 5: Still Energetically Tied to the Narcissist? Cut the Cord With This Quick Practice
👉 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/still-energetically-tied-to-the-narcissist-cut-the/id1662241353?i=1000706789155

✨ Follow Christy on Instagram →
https://www.instagram.com/fiercechristyjade/

TRANSCRIPT

Speaker 1 (00:03):

Welcome to your Thursday, thrive in five, your five minute pause from the chaos, the gaslighting, and that text you knew better than to reply to take a breath Queen. This one's for you. All right, queen, let's talk about that moment. Your phone dings and suddenly your peace is gone. It's the narcissist and the message is urgent. Or at least they say it is. Maybe it's call me now or it's an emergency, or it's important answer or even as low as the kids need. You sound familiar? Well, here's what you need to know. Those out of nowhere or urgent type texts are rarely about real emergencies. They're about control. A narcs favorite word. Alright? So a narcissist wants you to yank out of your calm, especially if you're doing well, you're moving on. Ooh, that irks them, right? They want to spike your anxiety and test if they still have access to you, if you're still going to take the bait, if you're still going to respond.

(01:22)
I always say, don't take the bait, keep it very simple. Gray rock method. We talked about that on Tuesday's episode, speaking of which, this episode is related to Tuesday's episode, which was all about these texts, and today is just a quick tool to handle them, basically handling those fake emergency texts. So step one, pause. Do not reply instantly. And we mentioned this in Tuesdays, but that's a quick note, right? Just pause. The pause puts you back in the driver's seat. So when you feel like stressed out, when you read it, take a breath and pause. Two, check the facts. Is it truly urgent? If it's not about your kid's safety or something, life or death, it can wait. Step three, respond and don't react. Keep it short, neutral and business-like that. Gray rock method. So an example, and I go over this all more in depth than Tuesday's episode if you didn't listen, so that will be in the show notes.

(02:37)
Example is noted. I'll handle it when I'm able to, period. Okay? No overexplaining anything. No getting emotional. Keep it to the basics. To the facts. Okay? So the next time your phone lights up with a fake emergency from your least favorite narc, remember, you are not at their beck and call, okay? Your piece is what's important. Your piece is what's urgent, and you decide when and how you engage. Girl, you got your damn power back, right? That's what we're doing here. Shining our crowns, getting our power right? So if you want more scripts or strategies, how to navigate all this stuff, grab my free Boundaries pocket guide as a start, and then if you want to work one-on-one and do customize scripts, customize strategies, that's where the real transformations happen. I always have the ways to work with me one-on-one in my show notes, so check it out.

(03:46)
And you can also join my free Facebook community with other ladies like you. I drop some truth bombs out there and I always put the podcast episodes. Sometimes I'll do some videos. So definitely go join that community. What else? I guess that's it. That's it. It's pretty, this might be my shortest episode ever. How crazy. Wow. Under four minutes. All right, give me a high five through the screen. Give yourself a little queen hug and I'll see you in the next episode. Don't forget to follow this podcast too, and help me help more people. Love.

In this episode, I read the letter I’ll never send — and share what it taught me about self-trust after narcissistic abuse. If you’ve ever felt paralyzed in conversations, questioned your own reactions, or normalized what your body knew wasn’t safe, this one is for you.Your Next Step in Healing

If this episode hit close to home, you may be in the stage where understanding isn’t the problem anymore — your nervous system just needs support integrating safety and clarity.

✨ Calm & Clarity Reset Call
A focused, private session designed to help you regulate, gain perspective, and leave with clear next steps when emotions feel overwhelming or confusing.

https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/calm-and-clarity-reset-call/

3-Month Deep-Dive Container
Focused support to break trauma bonds, rebuild self-trust, and create emotional stability after narcissistic abuse.
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/transformational-coaching-quarterly/

6-Month Queens of Peace Program
For women ready for deeper identity rebuilding, boundary mastery, and long-term nervous system healing.
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/6-month-queens-of-peace-program/

12-Month Queens of Peace Mastery
High-level mentorship and integration for lasting transformation and full life reclamation.
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/12-month-queens-of-peace-program/

Additional Support & Resources

Free Boundaries Pocket Guide
https://christyjade.ck.page/ce79ea9250

Copy-Paste-Peace Scripts
https://christyjade.thrivecart.com/copy-paste-peace-scripts/

Empowered Boundaries Course
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/empowered-boundaries/

Free Private Community
https://www.facebook.com/groups/christyjade

TRANSCRIPT

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Have you ever felt paralyzed in a conversation like no matter what you said, it was going to be wrong? Like your body was braced even when things were quote fine. Today's episode is different. I'm going to read something I've never read before. And if you've ever loved someone who slowly made you smaller, this is for you. Welcome to your Thursday Thrive In Five, your five minute pause from the chaos, the gaslighting, and that text you knew better than to reply to. Take a breath queen, this one's for you. Okay. So this episode is going to be a little different. I'm not teaching first, I'm going to read something and it's not about one specific person exactly. It's about a pattern. And if you see yourself in it, I want you to listen all the way through. All right? Here we go. Dear narcissist. I didn't see you at first and that's the part that still gets me.

(01:12)
I didn't see anything that felt overly dangerous. I saw intensity. I saw big emotions. I saw someone who reacted strongly and I told myself that just meant you cared deeply. You told me that meant you cared deeply. I thought the chaos meant passion. I thought the tension meant connection. I thought if I could just communicate better, it will calm down.

(01:48)
What I didn't see was how I was changing. I started feeling paralyzed in conversations and I mean any conversation, not just fights or conflicts. I would rehearse what I was going to say in my head before saying it out loud because somehow I already knew it would be wrong. No matter what I said, it would get twisted. And eventually I stopped trusting my own reactions. I started questioning whether I was even justified in feeling like you were overreacting. Maybe I was too sensitive, like you said. Maybe I did misunderstand like you said. Did I even provoke it?

(02:40)
All things you conditioned me to believe. So instead of holding my ground, I backed off or I overexplained. I took responsibility for things I did not do. I avoided topics that might set you off. Fixing it, fixing us became my role and keeping the peace became my job. And my body was keeping score the whole time. My tight chest, my tight jaw, the constant exhaustion, pure exhaustion, feeling drained all the time. This low grade brace in my nervous system that really never went away, even when I white knuckled through. Even when things were quote fine, especially when things were fine. And to the outside world, to people who maybe got glimpses, "I protected you. I joked about it. I minimized it for myself and for them.

(04:02)
I made it sound dramatic, but normal. I didn't want people to see what I wasn't fully admitting to myself, that this was not just conflict. It was dangerous unpredictability. And that unpredictability, that constant unpredictability does something not just to your mind, but your body. There were moments that did cross lines. Moments my body knew were not safe. And instead of leaving, I normalized them. That's the part that is sometimes hardest to say out loud, that the shame and the guilt, that's where those come from. I normalized what my nervous system was screaming about. And the moment I couldn't unsee it, it wasn't dramatic. It was clarity.

(05:12)
It was realizing that this was not just emotional intensity. It was escalation. That my health mattered, that my peace mattered, that my safety actually mattered. And that protecting you was costing me myself. I didn't cut you out because I hated you. I cut you out because I finally loved myself more than I feared the fallout. I couldn't do it anymore. And once I saw it clearly, I couldn't go back to pretending it was just complicated. You were turmoil. You were chaos, but I am not. And now I don't live braced anymore. I don't twist myself to survive conversations. I don't minimize volatility to keep anyone's peace. And I don't and will not protect people who harm me emotionally or physically.

(06:48)
You don't get to live inside my brain anymore. You don't get to control me. You don't get to control my thoughts. You don't get to control my actions. You have lost that control and I have gained it. And that is freedom. So let me step out of the letter for a minute because if you resonated with that, I want you to understand something. This isn't just my story. That's why I saved some of the specific details. It's a pattern I see in so many women healing from narcissistic abuse. And here's what I want you to hear. If you feel paralyzed in conversations, that is information. Healthy relationships don't make you rehearse basic sentences. If you feel like no matter what you say, it's going to be wrong. That isn't a communication issue. It's a power imbalance.

(08:00)
If you constantly question whether you're justified in your feelings, that's conditioning. And when your words get twisted enough times, you stop trusting your own perception. You start thinking, "Maybe I am too sensitive. Maybe I am overreacting." That self-doubt did not appear out of nowhere. It was trained into you. And your body? Your body's not dramatic. It's a tool we have, right? It's a tool. You get the tight chest, you get the clenched jaw, the exhaustion that I talked about. After simple conversations, daily conversations, repeated daily, weekly conversations that are usually conflict. Your nervous system doesn't lie. So if your body feels unsafe, even if you can't logically prove why, that matters.

(09:05)
And protecting someone who harms you is not loyalty, it's survival. Many of us were taught to smooth things over, minimize, joke about it, protect the other person's image. But the day you stop protecting someone who is hurting you is the day you start protecting yourself. And that's where the healing actually begins. Clarity can feel like grief at first. Once you see it, you can't unsee it, right? But it is also freedom. And if you're in the stage right now where you're starting to see patterns clearly and you feel that mix of grief and strength, it can really be confusing. You don't have to navigate it alone. That is exactly the kind of work that we do inside my Calm and Clarity Reset call. This is my new offer I've been talking about last episode or two. It's just one focused hour to untangle what's happening, regulate your nervous system and get clear on your next step.

(10:27)
It's a soft place to start because you deserve peace that doesn't require survival skills. And it starts with regaining trust in yourself again, which can feel far right now. I get it. I've been there, right? But it is possible. I work with tons of women who start where you are and have amazing transformations. If you want to just jump feet first in, I have three, six, and 12 month programs as well. Or if you want to just take a little nibble and do that calm and clarity reset call, it's a great place to start. Okay? So I hope this helps in some way, maybe just a solidarity, maybe clarity in your own journey.

(11:32)
And maybe it's the push to say, "I want to get unstuck and I deserve more." So if you have any questions too, you can always email me my email and all the links to my programs or working with me one-on-one and a boundaries course. I have all sorts of goodies in my description notes. And the show notes of the podcast should be on the episode descriptions themselves and the main page. And don't forget to follow because this is a long game. It's not as long as you think. I will say that. It's hard to explain, but this healing journey can be quicker than you think, but it's not overnight. We have to be realistic here. We have to go through the process. But one-on-one, my clients will tell you we can have some tears, but we can have some laughs and some good times. And we get great sessions that are mind blowing, really mind-blowing work.

(12:38)
Somatic healing is amazing. If you don't know what it is, it is healing through the body. So we do coaching, narcissistic recovery coaching. Obviously we're doing that kind of talk therapy, et cetera. And then we do these beautiful methods of somatic healing, which is healing through the body because the body often is a little step behind of the brain. You might think something, but your body's still stuck. So we get unstuck in magical ways. Yes. I'm not talking fairy magical. Just to me, it's God magic. I'm a big man upstairs follower. So if you're on that journey too, that is helpful and we can always implement that into it as well. Sometimes we pray. If you are a God person, if you're not, we don't. If you are and we get on that topic, we can infuse a little bit of that Holy Spirit activation in there.

(13:38)
See, there you go. There's the magic. Holy Spirit magic. That'll be my next course. All right. Well, thank you for listening. Thank you for letting me share. I may share more details of my own experience on this podcast, but right now this moment is really for you and this is for just knowing that you're not alone and that there are these patterns and that you do deserve to feel better and to heal better. All right. Don't forget on Thursday, I have Thrive in Five, so we will do a little quicker episode, somatic healing episode or little quick TED Talk or something, whatever comes out of my body. And those are on Thursday. So again, don't forget to follow. And there is a Facebook group. Please join that with women, like- minded women like you. It's a private group, so you don't have to worry about bots and spammers in there, peeping on our stuff.

(14:42)
And yeah, I'm just so excited for you that you landed on my podcast. So welcome if you're new and if you are an oldie book Goodie, thank you for supporting and sticking around and hanging out. And always feel free again to email me with just a hello or any questions or if you want to suggest a topic. All right. Look for all the information in the show notes and I'll see you in the next episode. Bye.

Still Missing Them Today? Do This Instead (Thrive in 5)

You thought once you left, the missing would stop. But instead, certain moments still hit — a memory, a song, a quiet night — and suddenly you question yourself again.

In this Thrive in 5 episode, Christy Jade explains why missing a narcissistic partner does not mean you made the wrong decision. What you’re actually grieving isn’t the person — it’s the version of you that existed inside the trauma bond and the future you believed was coming.

You’ll learn how to reinterpret that feeling in real time and use it as a signal to reconnect with yourself instead of looking backward.

If you’ve been caught in obsessive thoughts, emotional pullbacks, or sudden waves of longing after leaving, this episode gives you a grounded, nervous-system-safe way to move through it.

Your Next Step in Healing

✨ Calm & Clarity Reset Call
A focused, private session designed to help you regulate, gain perspective, and leave with clear next steps when emotions feel overwhelming or confusing.

https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/calm-and-clarity-reset-call/

3-Month Deep-Dive Container
Focused support to break trauma bonds, rebuild self-trust, and create emotional stability after narcissistic abuse.
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/transformational-coaching-quarterly/

6-Month Queens of Peace Program
For women ready for deeper identity rebuilding, boundary mastery, and long-term nervous system healing.
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/empowered-boundaries/

Free Private Community
00:03):

Welcome to your Thursday, thrive in five, your five minute pause from the chaos, the gaslighting, and that text you knew better than to reply to Take a Breath Queen. This one's for you. Hello queens. If you caught yourself missing them again today or yesterday, hopefully not both. This episode is going to change how you interpret that feeling in the next five minutes. Alright, so quick reset moment. If you listen to my last episode from Tuesday, we talked about how you're not actually missing the narcissist, you're missing something a little deeper. So today I want to give you one powerful practice to use in the exact moment that missing feeling hits, because here is what happens. Your brain labels the feeling as I miss them, but your nervous system is actually saying, I miss familiarity. I miss certainty. I miss who I thought I was becoming. So instead of reaching for the memories, try this pause and ask yourself, what version of me feels far away right now? Not them you.

(01:30)
Maybe it's the hopeful person. Maybe it's the secure version. You remember the woman who felt chosen, the woman who believed life was about to open up there was more coming. That is who your system is grieving. I just had a conversation with a client yesterday about this. You're grieving and here's the reframe that changes everything. Okay? You didn't lose her. Okay? She's not gone. That queen is still in there. She just hasn't fully met the safer environment yet. So when the missing shows up today, don't interpret it as a sign to look backward. Interpret it as a signal to reconnect inward.

(02:35)
A lot of times we look back at these memories and the what ifs and why did I do that? This living in our head, spinning in circles, replaying, wondering, confused all the feelings and the thoughts are exploding in our minds at once. It's time to go inward right into the heart and then take one small action that supports your stability. You need stability right now. We're missing stability, right? So text somebody that you feel safe with, okay? Nobody that has any relation to this person that you don't feel safe with that connection there. Okay? So let's not text their sister today A safe friend. Maybe it's your sibling, maybe it's a coworker that you're very close with. You can go outside, right? Stability. Physically. You can get stability from grounding. There's grounding techniques you can do or just walking. There's something about grounding your body, right?

(03:59)
Regulate your body in some way. Exercise even. I mean, like I said, walking, but even just something simple. Dancing, right? Putting on some fun tunes, shaking a tail feather. Maybe two, do they have two? Tail feather? We're getting weird now. Let's keep going. But regulating your body in some way, moving your body very beneficial and reminding yourself, I'm not going back. I'm coming back to myself. The authentic self. I refer to this as that solid gold block we're all born with and no matter who we are, narcissistic abuse or not, a lot of shit kind of covers up that solid gold block. That's the authentic us. That's in a way our higher self, our highest self that we can be and not trying to be like, oh, let's achieve this. I'm not in that way. It is our unique golden, beautiful self that we desire to feel like that loves ourself, that feels confident, that feels secure, feels safe, all of those things.

(05:23)
And you're coming back to that. And healing isn't about forgetting them. It's not about them. I want to reiterate that it's not about forgetting them, it's about remembering you and who you truly are. And you may I get it. I can hear you from here. Some of you saying, I don't even know who that is. I don't remember who she is. That's where I come in. Or your therapist comes in. You can do work on your own. There's a lot of different methodologies that you can use. Somatic healing is amazing. If you didn't, here, I have a couple of spots open. Now I'm going to start opening these for two people every month I'm going to do one-off sessions. Usually I don't do one-off sessions really anymore unless someone pops up from an old episode where I did offer them, or now, right now I am offering some really special one-off sessions.

(06:42)
They're my clarity and calm sessions. If you need a nervous system, wind down, kind of feel like you even just need a next step. Maybe it's the next step in. How do I even try to figure out who I am? What does that even look like? If you find yourself saying, what does that look like? That's where we can work together and we have one session zoom call. We'll do a little coaching, maybe a little somatic healing in that body and get you ready for that next step and then that if you want to, you can continue with me into one of my programs that are three, six, or 12 months. And those are deep transformative programs. But even just that one session will give you some clarity and some calm. That's why I call it that because I'm a basic B, because I know some people, maybe you don't have it in you to commit. Maybe you don't have the finances to commit. That's okay. Just getting a little clarity can go a long way and help you feel better right now and know what direction to head in. So if you're interested in that at any of my programs, including the calm, clarity and calm call, say that five times fast. That is always in my show notes. Any of my offers are in there. I have a boundaries course. That's amazing. Really good.

(08:22)
Well, it drips every week and then you have it for the rest of your life. You can look at my face for the rest of your life. Yes, it's videos. So that's 10 videos. It's really good stuff. I'm very biased and I have a couple freebies too. I have a little boundaries pocket guide. It's adorable and fun and I don't know, I don't remember what's listed as far as the freebies. And there's the Facebook community, which is, it's getting more engagement in there. So join now while people are talking to each other because you guys leaning on each other. First of all, it makes me so happy to peep in there and be like, oh, they're talking to each other and encouraging each other and going like, girl, me too. I love that. We need that when we're in the situation. So look for that support.

(09:12)
It's a private group, so not going to have any creep opioids in there. Everyone, you got to answer questions too. So yes, you do have to answer questions and give me your email so I know you're a real human. And so it is a women's only Facebook group. It's private, and you get to chat with other women that have gone through or are going through what you are, right? It's always nice to have that support. So definitely look in the show notes for all the information. You can email me too if you have any questions about my programs. My email is in there as well. And yeah, that's about it. It's nine 15. Here it is, nine 15. You know what? I'm a tired little lady. I don't know why I love recording my podcasts at night. Sometimes I've time during the day and I'm like, Hmm, I'll do it tonight.

(10:09)
I'm very much a night owl. Do I have any night owls out there? Is that trauma? Do we have trauma night owl syndrome? No. That, I swear it runs in my family. My mom is a super night owl. She now naps during the day, but she's always been a night owl. I will say while she was single parenting us, sometimes she'd pass out on the couch though after dinner because that woman did a lot. Shout out to the single moms of the world. You are super, super people, super moms. And then my grandma was very much a night owl. I remember in my twenties, this is when I don't know how, I know my audience ranges in age. So this is going to age us older women here. But when the Kylie Jenners, not Kylie, what was the other one? What's the, oh my gosh, I can't even remember now.

(11:11)
Kylie is so big. I can't even, she's overshadowing her sister. But all the Kardashians, yes, whatever K word, Kardashian. The Kardashians show I think had just started or something. But I remember being up with my grandma. I live outside of DC and I would go up to New York to visit my grandma at Christmas time. I'd stay there a little extra. My mom would come home here and sometimes I'd stay. So I was staying with my grandma and she loved tea and s m's, coffee cake and rest in peace. My grandma passed in 2020. I just adored her. So we would sit up every night so late. I loved it. Let me have caffeinated tea in the middle of the night. Well, I was having an monds caffeinated tea. No wonder she was a night owl. And we would stay up till like three. I remember once it was four in the morning and I was like, my grandma's such a badass.

(12:15)
And we were watching this, I think it was the Kardashians, and I feel like Donna Versace was on it. She didn't know who the Kardashians are. She's like, what is this shit? And then she's like, is that Donatella? She knew her. I don't know. Crazy weird memories just popping through my head and I'm sharing it with you. I feel like I need to connect with you guys more on a more real level too. I'm always just so excited and I don't want to make my episodes too long, so I try to just keep it very focused, but I feel like I'm not very focused, and I want you to see that A, and also share a little bit about me so you can get a little more familiar with who I am. And then I would love to know more about you pop in. I have people say hi in my emails.

(13:05)
Say hello, introduce yourself. I get emails sometimes that make me so happy that are just people saying, Hey, I binged your podcast episodes and they've helped me so much, X, Y, Z, and tell me their stories. And I love that stuff, you guys. So if you just ever want to share, I appreciate it so much because it helps me know that I'm truly impacting and helping people, which is obviously my purpose here. And it's just so cool to get to know all of you. Sometimes we'll have a couple back and forth emails. So I read every single email. That might not be the case forever as I get more and more and my numbers grow, which is very exciting and I love that. But that does mean eventually I won't be able to keep up with the volume. But right now I can and I love it.

(14:02)
So yeah, I guess that's it. I'm really excited for spring to come. I am a warm weather person, so I'm really, really excited for that. DC has been way colder than usual. It's been a snowy ass cold winter, which I mean that should be, but I'm not here for it. So I'm so excited. It's going to be 60 whole degrees later this week, and you would think that means it's like 80. I'm like, oh my God, it's the best. So excited. I'm going to cry outside and just dance naked. That'd be weird. Neighbors might not like it. So I guess it, I'll end on that cutesy note, right? And you guys take these words today, right? Remember, first of all, everything's going to be okay. I know it. Don't feel that way. Can I just put that out there? Just hear me. Everything's going to be okay.

(14:57)
It might take time. You might need to do a little work, but you're a capable queen, so of course you're going to be able to do that, okay? And you're not going back. You're coming back to your self, that solid gold piece of hunk, of chunk of burning love gold inside your body. We're just dusting off all the crap that I think I forgot to finish the sentence back earlier, now that I think of it. When I was saying we have this solid gold block, I side tangent, but I always view it as society. Other people, no matter what abuse or not, we get all this stuff that just covers up and causes us insecurities, or especially with social media, there's so much and they become a little different version of ourselves. So we're trying to get back to that solid gold, authentic block of gorgeousness that deserves the world and deserves to feel confident and good about yourself and deserves love and to feel worthy. So I want you to say, repeat after me if you so dare. I am worthy.

(16:11)
I am loved. I'm a queen. Yeah, you are. You look good in that gold crown. Girl. You look so good. All right. I'm going to stop being creepy myself over here and don't forget to follow. So you get all my episodes. I mean, how much more fun is life with my podcast, huh? It's fun, right guys? I mean, not fun stuff we have to deal with, but I try to make it as fun as I can for you and I do. Honestly, joking aside, please reach out if you just want to share your story or have a question. Okay? I will see you in the next episode. Have a fabulous rest of your week. Bye.

If you’ve left a narcissistic or emotionally abusive relationship but still find yourself thinking about them, questioning your progress, or feeling pulled backward emotionally — this episode will bring powerful clarity.

You’re not actually missing the narcissist. In this episode, Christy explains why calm can feel uncomfortable after narcissistic abuse, how trauma bonding conditions the brain and body, and what’s really happening when memories or longing resurface.

This conversation will help you release shame, understand your healing process, and begin retraining your body to feel safe in peace again.

Your Next Step in Healing

If this episode hit close to home, you may be in the stage where understanding isn’t the problem anymore — your nervous system just needs support integrating safety and clarity.

✨ Calm & Clarity Reset Call
A focused, private session designed to help you regulate, gain perspective, and leave with clear next steps when emotions feel overwhelming or confusing.

https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/calm-and-clarity-reset-call/

3-Month Deep-Dive Container
Focused support to break trauma bonds, rebuild self-trust, and create emotional stability after narcissistic abuse.
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/transformational-coaching-quarterly/

6-Month Queens of Peace Program
For women ready for deeper identity rebuilding, boundary mastery, and long-term nervous system healing.
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/empowered-boundaries/

Free Private Community
00:00):

Hello Queens. Have you ever caught yourself thinking about them and then immediately getting mad at yourself afterwards? Why am I still thinking about this person I left? I know who they are, I know what they did. So why does part of me still feel pulled back today? I want to gently flip something upside down for you because you're not actually missing the narcissist, you're missing something else. And once you understand this, a lot of shame is going to go, we don't like shame in this room. No we don't. Welcome to your Thursday. Thrive in five, your five minute pause from the chaos, the gaslighting and that text you knew better than to reply to Take a breath Queen. This one's for you.

(00:53)
Alright, so welcome back to Narcissistic Abuse Recovery. I'm Christie, as many of you know, if not welcome, thanks for showing up. And if you're here today, I already know something about you. You're not where you used to be, right? You've learned, you've woken up, maybe you left. Maybe you're emotionally detaching, maybe and trying to stay grounded, but there's still this confusing moment that happens sometimes, right? You're doing better and out of nowhere a memory hits or you wonder what they're doing. Or your body feels heavy, chest tight, maybe you feel a little nostalgia, right? And then the second wave after that is guilt or shame around that. What is wrong with me? Why do I still miss them? This doesn't make sense. So what we're going to talk about today is what's actually happening because this moment right here is one of the most misunderstood parts of healing.

(02:00)
Alright? So here's the truth. Most people never explain. You're not missing the narcissist. I repeat. You are not missing the narcissist. Isn't that? That's like a relief, but you're not so sure yet are you are missing what your nervous system learned to expect while you were surviving them. They're two very, very different things. So when you were in that relationship, your brain and your body, that's the somatic healing we talk about. Adapted. In order to keep you safe, you learn to scan their moods. Remember that Not so fun. You learn to anticipate their reactions. You learned how to fix any fixers out there? Yeah, I see you, I see all of you. You learn to soften to manage them if you know and to do whatever you could to prevent the explosions before they happened. So your body was constantly on alert. So here's the part that surprises people.

(03:10)
That constant emotional intensity created chemistry. So high stress, that high, high, high chaos followed by relief. The conflict followed by moments of calm or reflection, maybe even got fake apologies or flowers or just calm. It could have just been calm where it wasn't chaos. And that's good enough for us, not really, or fear followed by reassurance. So that cycle releases powerful, neurochemicals, adrenaline, cortisol. You've probably heard all the things about cortisol, dopamine probably heard that. These are like buzzwords nowadays, right? But they're real. And that cycle releases them. It's like the storm before the calm. So even though it was painful, it became very familiar. I would almost call it comfortable because it was so familiar. And the nervous system loves familiarity more than it loves happiness. Do you know that? I'm going to repeat that one again. Your nervous system actually loves familiarity more than happiness.

(04:31)
Okay? Your nervous system chooses familiar before it chooses peace. We're going to break that cycle though. We're going to break it. We don't like that. We want peace. Who wants peace? Can I get an amen? Yes. Okay, good. So when you actually leave or when you detach emotionally, something strange happens. Life gets quieter and logically that's good. You're like, yeah, this is what's supposed to happen. But your body is going, wait, why is it so calm here? Are we actually safe? I don't feel safe because calm used to mean something bad was about to happen. Let that one sink in. Calm used to mean something bad was about to happen. Calm before the storm. Silence used to mean tension was building. You knew when it was silent. It's like when there's a toddler and it's way too quiet. And then you go in the room and it's like there's marker all over the wall and glue on the seat, right?

(05:39)
Silence with a arc. When the intention was building, there's a cycle. There is the abuse cycle. And during that cycle, what happens before it's the calm, before the storm there's love bombing or there's convincing you everything's fine. Maybe there's some quiet and then maybe boom. So peace to you feels unfamiliar. And unfamiliar can feel very unsafe in our bodies. So your brain tries to solve that discomfort. The only way it knows how, it brings your attention back to the person connected to that old pattern. And that's not because you want them and miss them in the way you're thinking. That's why you're missing is confusing because it's not how you actually miss maybe someone you have in your life that is a healthy connection. Your body is trying to return to what it recognizes. That's all what it's been conditioned, right? What confusingly felt familiar slash safe, but not safe in the sense of the word as we really know it and want it to be.

(06:51)
So this is where so many women judge themselves, they think missing thoughts mean they made the wrong decision. They think healing should feel like just instant freedom. But what's actually happening is it's a detox. You are detoxing from survival mode. You're teaching a nervous system that learned chaos, how to live in peace. It takes time. This is not a little switch flip, so let's reframe it a little bit. You're not craving the relationship in the way that a normal relationship would be craved or if you break up and there were lots of great qualities and this and that, and you miss the person. This is different. You're grieving the familiarity. You're releasing a role that you had to play for a long time. This was part of your identity, right? The fixer, the peacemaker, the emotional manager. You were busy girl, you were really busy and oh, I do want to say, and boy and man, I have found out I have more men followers than I thought I did.

(08:09)
So shout out to all of you too. And it sucks just as much for you guys and you can be my kings, okay? But when that role disappears, king or queen, there is space. A space can feel really uncomfortable before it feels freeing. Okay? And that doesn't mean you're going backward. I just had this conversation with one of my clients actually, it doesn't mean you're going backward, it means your healing is actually working. Okay? So that's the good news. That is the good news. That discomfort just means you're recalibrating. So here's something you can do the next time, a memory or longing hits. Instead of asking why do I miss them? Pause and ask, what does my body need right now? And then orient yourself. Do you guys know Orient yet? If you've been a long time follower, you probably do. If not, you are about to learn a little tool that elementary kids can learn. My daughter does it herself. It's a great, great way to calm your nervous system and it's easy and it's fast and it's fabulous. Okay, look around the room slowly. Name three things you can see. I love to do examples. So what's in my home? The gnome in the corner, of course I have a gnome, the basket with my dog's leash in it and my smart water to make me smart.

(09:46)
So you name three things. Feel your feet on the ground. If they're not on the ground, put 'em on the ground. Or I kindly ask you to place your feet on the ground if it's comfortable for you. Lexie, I'm being gentle. Alright? And then let your shoulders drop just a little. So we're looking around, we're grounding ourselves with our feet, letting our shoulders drop and just taking a nice inhale through the nose and out the mouth. My favorite halo breath, it's called, you're teaching your nervous system a new message. I am safe without chaos. And every time you do this, you weaken that old attachment. Not through force, but real safety, not the fake safety that it has with that narc. Okay, that was fake news, safety. So if this episode hit you today, I want you to know something very important. This stage, this confusing middle ground is where the real healing happens.

(10:55)
Not when you realize the truth, not when you first leave, which we would love it to be that way, believe me. But when your body starts learning, that peace is allowed. Now it's huge and it's also a stage we're where support can make a very, very big difference because understanding is powerful, but regulation is what creates that lasting change. So I actually am offering new one-off sessions. I'm only doing a couple this month. I'm going to do a couple every month just for those of you who need quick support are not looking for ongoing and really want to just get the next step and a somatic tool to go a little to go package. Let's talk about it that way. A little to go package something that we will have an hour long zoom call one-on-one with yours truly. And I will hear you out for a few minutes.

(12:00)
See what we're working with. We'll do a little somatic exercise depending on what it is, and a little coaching with a next step and knowing what you need to do next. So if ongoing support is not what you're looking for or can afford right now, this might be a good solution for you to just feel a little better, get a little settled. This my clarity and calm sessions, my resets. So that link along with my ongoing support will all be in the show notes. And if you want to email me, ask me any questions, my email is in there as well. And until next time, remember, you're not broken, you're not weak, okay? You're not missing them. No ma'am. You're learning how to feel safe before being yourself again, basically, until it all comes together. And it takes a minute. So don't forget to follow wherever you are on the podcast, whatever podcast platform.

(13:10)
Follow me. Say you don't miss my episodes. I have two a week. Tuesdays and Thursdays and Thursdays are my thrive in fives, I call 'em. And they are just a little somatic fun. Five to 10 minutes, little bits that you can save for moments where you're feeling a little want, want not at peace, which we all have. They're useful really to anybody. And what else? Oh, you can join my Facebook group for Queens just like you, just you going through what you're going through. So join that group and that is also in the show notes, the link to sign up for that. It's private. So don't worry about that. Don't worry about all the narcs coming in and spying on us, okay? They can't get in. It's a narc free zone. Alright, you guys have a great rest of your week until Thursday, because come back Thursday for some more goodies and yeah, love you. Bye.

Contact: fiercemamac@gmail.com

You can understand narcissistic abuse intellectually and still feel your body react instantly when they reach out. That doesn’t mean you’re stuck — it means your nervous system hasn’t learned safety yet.

In this Thrive in 5, Christy shares a simple, powerful reset you can use in real time when you feel triggered, flooded, or pulled back into old emotional patterns. This short practice helps interrupt the automatic reaction cycle and teaches your body that you don’t have to perform, explain, or fix anything to stay safe.

If you’ve been looking for a small but powerful shift to help your healing actually stick, this episode gives you one you can start using today.

Your Next Step in Healing

If you’re ready to move beyond awareness and start creating real emotional freedom, deeper support can help you practice these shifts in real life — not just understand them.

Work With Me — Coaching Containers

3-Month Transformational Coaching (Deep Reset & Momentum)
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/transformational-coaching-quarterly/

6-Month Queens of Peace Program (Deep Pattern Healing & Rebuild)
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/6-month-queens-of-peace-program/

12-Month Queens of Peace Program (Full Identity & Life Transformation)
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/12-month-queens-of-peace-program/

Get My Copy-Paste-Peace Scripts
Scripts that help you shut down manipulation, stop JADE-ing, and communicate with confidence.
https://shethrives.thrivecart.com/copy-paste-peace-fast-37/

Grab the Boundaries Pocket Guide (Free!)
Your quick-start guide to setting boundaries without guilt.
https://christyjade.ck.page/ce79ea9250

Join the Facebook Community
Connect with other women healing from narcissistic abuse
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2420729361374989

Speaker 1 (00:03):

Welcome to your Thursday, thrive in five, your five minute pause from the chaos, the gaslighting, and that text, you knew better than to reply to take a breath Queen, this one's for you. Have you ever walked away from an interaction thinking, I stayed calm. I didn't take the bait. As Christie Jade always says, so why do I still feel shaken? Like your body's buzzing. Your mind won't stop replaying it, and somehow they're still in your head. Maybe hours later today I want to talk about why that happens, because it's not a lack of healing. So a lot of women think if I were really healed, I wouldn't react anymore. But healing from narcissistic abuse specifically doesn't start in your thoughts. It starts in your nervous system, all the fun. So your nervous system learned survival long before you learned boundaries, right? That's why you ended up having to learn about boundaries and hopefully setting some at this point, but maybe still not quite knowing how or knowing how to stick to them or handle backlash from them, all of that, right?

(01:25)
But here's what's really happening. So when you were in that dynamic with the narcissist, you body was trained to stay on alert. Unpredictability teaches your brain what? Stay ready, fix it fast, prevent the explosion. We know all about that escalation. So now, even when you may logically understand what they're doing, logically, I say that because, and let's be honest, even logically it doesn't always make sense, but logically, you can kind of explain it away. Your body still reads them as a threat. So that reaction you feel, it's not emotional weakness, it's conditioning. It's what you have been conditioned to feel by the entire situation. So this is why you can prepare the perfect response. Tell yourself, I'm not going to engage. And then one text comes in, and suddenly you have that sinking heart feeling, right? I know you know that feeling right? That heart drops, and it's not even exactly like, oh, you care what they think. Maybe anymore, maybe you used to. But even if you've stretched away from that feeling, it's because your body remembers what used to happen next.

(03:01)
Let that sink in. Your body remembers what used to happen next when you were closer with them, when you were living with them. And I know some of you may be listening that you're still in the situation. Most of my followers, most of my clients are away from the situation, or they may not live with the person if it's someone in their family, like a parent. But you could look at that. If it's a parent, right? When you live with them as a child, you're now still your body, still remembering what used to happen after you. Whatever way you weren't good enough or didn't do it right, or didn't do exactly what they wanted, how they wanted, even though it wasn't reasonable. Same thing if you were in a romantic situation with someone living with them. Same thing where your body is remembering what used to happen next.

(04:02)
So here's the shift. I would love you to try this week. Stop trying to win the interaction. We often can go to the other side of the pendulum. We feel like we've lost for so long that we just want to get these wins. What you need to do is start, which is a win, but it doesn't feel as satisfactory as a full win. But I'm going to tell you in the end what wins is peace. So start regulating yourself instead. You're not going to win as far as getting them to say what you want or do what you want, especially all the time, right? Occasionally, if they're desperate for something, they might give you a little carrot. But talking about for true healing, you have to stop trying to control them and trying to control the situation. Because really what you need to do is control yourself. Regulate yourself instead. So when you feel that surge, that heart, drop that spiraling out in the brain, any of that pause, and then put your feet on the ground. Take one slow breath. I love my halo breath. So in through the nose and out through the mouth. So you're inhaling. Two seconds, exhaling three to four seconds. Always exhaling a little more than you're inhaling. Please don't turn blue and pass out on me. Okay? If you need to just do two and two, that's fine.

(05:47)
We want this to be a calmer, not a passer outer. So you take in one exhale, one many seconds that looks to you, that's comfortable, and let your shoulders drop. Let your jaw loosen. So in those moments, and this takes a little training, you don't get it right the first time. That's fine. Look, we're all still growing. We're all still learning this. This is not an overnight shift, but the next time you catch yourself where you're able to do it, say, oh, yay, I get a gold coin to match my gold ground. Alright? So you're cheating your nervous something, nervous system, something new now, which is I don't have to react to stay safe anymore, right before to stay safe. What did that look like? That looked like, I mean, first of all, even I'm just picturing our body language, just like the hunch. You know what I'm talking about, that sinking into yourself, you feel that heart sink, your body collapses into itself. You're like maybe a dog between the tail, between its legs, this kind of, okay, oh no, I got to shrink because I don't want the explosion.

(07:10)
What else could that overexplaining ourselves? Right? So there's that. Oh, no, but I didn't mean to, no, that's not what I meant to do. That's not what I was saying, right? All of that, that urgency to fix, that urgency to make everything right, that weight on your shoulders, it is your responsibility to fix this because they have conditioned you that way. We actually are out of that situation. Now, if you are, I hope you are. If not, we got to get out of that. We got to get out of that situation. No one should let you feel like that, right? But I don't have to react to stay safe anymore, and that's where that detachment actually begins. And you could write that on a post-it note. Put it on your mirror, put it on your forehead, wherever you'll see it. I don't have to react to stay safe anymore. We've been conditioned to react in some way, whether that reaction could be very submissive, that reaction could be fighting for our lives.

(08:27)
So you're not behind in healing. I know a lot of you, so many of my clients are like, oh, no, it had an effect on me. It's a transition time. It's not overnight that it's not going to have an effect. This is the transition to I'm of, Hey, something has maybe triggered me or given me that visceral reaction, and you know what I'm going to do with that? I'm going to not sucked into it. I'm going to talk to myself and remind myself I don't have to react. I don't have to do what they want just because I'm conditioned to do what they want.

(09:11)
I don't have to react to stay safe anymore. I am safe. I am safe. I'm safe. I feel like screaming it on the mountaintop. Okay? So you are unwinding survival patterns that took years to build, right? So once you have this light bulb and it's like, oh, they're a narcissist. You kind of figure that out. You understand that more. Then you start to go, okay, well, I shouldn't react to this. I'm out of this situation, and why can't I just move on? Why can't I get unstuck? Why can't I look like him in his happy little bubble life? First of all, he's full of shit. He's not happy. Or whoever your narc is, they're not happy. That's a whole other episode. Actually, that's a good episode. I should dive into that. And I have this conversation with my clients a lot, right? Because it's almost like, not a jealousy, but a, how are they so fine?

(10:10)
Let's say if it's your ex, how are they doing so well? Why are they so happy? Why are they having no problem? Their whole life is a problem. Again, that's another episode I definitely will be doing because I love that topic now, but your job isn't to worry about them or compare yourself to realize you are human. And this took a long time, most likely for some longer than others, meaning you've been in it longer. It probably didn't take super long. I mean, they're good at what they do, so they get you in. Didn't take 'em super long to love bomb you and get you under their spell. But it did take a while, right? They slowly got into your head, manipulated, confused, you, deflected onto you, lied to you, maybe cheated on you, maybe abused you emotionally, mentally, financially. There's a lot here. So you're not going to look at your post-it and repeat it three times and be like, I'm healed, mama.

(11:24)
No, but it can be a quicker process than you think once you actually do that deeper healing. And of course, that's what I'm here to handhold you through. The one-on-one sessions that are so important, this work, this somatic healing. If you don't know what somatic is it, it's the body, right? So we do the coaching, right? Some clients want to understand narcissism more and how they got there and how to trust. Again, all of that stuff, all the mind stuff, the logical stuff, the situational stuff, the customized coaching on that level. And then there's the somatic healing, which I mean, it's all great to me. I love all this work. But the somatic healing, there is something truly magical about it where your body remembers everything. Your body holds onto this stuff. Your body's a little behind the brain and the mind and your nervous system is going, I'm still not feeling safe.

(12:30)
I'm stuck. So your mind may not be completely stuck, but your nervous system is. So that can then trigger the mind to feel stuck and start replaying because it's going, wait, but my body's saying I'm not safe, so something's wrong, so I'm going to start spiraling. So it's this awful cycle. So we need to help the body too. In parallel. The body is this important piece that a lot of people really don't give enough credit to in healing. So that's my job to help both of those pieces of you. And we have the spiritual part too. I am a God person. I will always ask permission, but we can bring God in. We can bring prayer in if you're a God person too. But the somatic healing is mind blowing work. And what does that look like? We go on, I call 'em Soul Cas, okay?

(13:26)
We go on little Soul Cas in our one-on-one sessions. We do these once a week, and I have three programs. Please go check them out in the show notes, and you can read more in depth about them. But this is mind blowing work that will change your life, right? It's transformational. All my clients who have done it have had improvement in their life, some who have been with me a year. It is unrecognizable in a good way. I mean, they're them, but even more confident, they finally trust themselves. They're dating again, people who came in saying, I will never date again. I have no idea how I would ever trust anyone are out there now dating, feeling freedom, feeling confident, having a whole new career. I can't tell you just the impact that all of this stuff, when someone conditions you in these ways and smacks you down how it affects your entire life.

(14:29)
So it is so cool for me to help people through that transformation. It's just mind blowing, all of it, all of it. So sorry, I get so excited about it. So if you're interested in working, this is for somebody, the people, the women who are ready, who are ready to say, yeah, I am ready to do this work. I don't want to feel this way. I want to get unstuck, and I would love to carve out an hour a week. This is for people who aren't great, also at the self-care, at the carving, the timeout that do everything for everybody else, or they're used to that. People pleasers moms who just, it's hard to get even an hour away this hour. There's so much built into this hour that it feels like you get hours work worth of work. I'll say that. That's a good way to put it in one hour, but we try and make it fun too.

(15:34)
I mean, I'm Christie, so it's also fun. It's a little bit fun. I mean, I think it's a lot bit fun. I hate that it's related to this stuff, obviously, that we have to heal from. But yes, I do, of course, try to make it also light. You're not going to go out of the session weeping. We are going to make sure I am trained with trauma informed, which means I have been certified and trained how to make sure we're not going to re-trigger you and send you into some black abyss. You're in good hands, and we're going to help you at the end of the session. You will feel better and delighter and have definitely done some healing. So I'm excited about you being able to start this new chapter in your life. So if you are on board, if you are ready, again, all the information is in the show notes.

(16:32)
You can email me. My email is in there. If you have any questions at all, it's fierce Mama C at Gmail. What else? We have a Facebook group. Yes, we do. Queens Little Queen Facebook group for women just like you. And there are questions you have to answer because I want to make sure you're not a bot and that it is a sacred, safe place for all of you. So please answer those, or I will not let you in. That's just one of the rules. So what else? I guess that's it. If you didn't hear my episode on Tuesday, there's a full rundown on this topic, so you can listen to that or watch it on YouTube. I'm going to post both of these probably tonight on YouTube. Sometimes I'm a little later posting on YouTube, so sometimes they'll go up on Thursdays. But yes, I have a little YouTube channel.

(17:23)
If you want to see my face today. I don't think I have a, Nope, not a stitch of makeup on. So it's naked baby face today, but maybe you've seen worse. Maybe not. I don't know. You'll have to look and see. But if you are just on audio, I love you. Let's end with some beautiful affirmations. All right. Repeat after me. Hands over your heart unless you're driving. Then please keep them on the wheel and just listen. Don't close your eyes. All right? But those of you who are in a safe space to do so, close your eyes, hands on heart. Let's take a nice inhale through the nose, that halo breath breathing out. All right, I am safe. I am ready because I'm a queen. That's right. Yes, you are queen. All right, I will see you in the next episode next Tuesday. Don't forget to follow also on whatever platform you are listening or watching this. Make sure to follow so you don't miss any episodes because there's tons of 'em. Alright, have a great one. Love you. Bye.