Does anyone else feel like their social skills got stunted from having a narc parent?
I grew up with a narc & alcoholic single mother. Never met my dad. Her parents made an agreement to financially provide for her if she kept me. You can imagine the healthy relationship that created lol.
She made my life a living hell. I was in survival mode for all my childhood and was bullied non-stop in school. I felt like I never had any kind of refuge, family, or friends. I’ve poured myself into work since I was 15.
Now that I’m older and have my life together a bit, I still feel like socially I have some sort of ineptitude possibly caused by not having healthy family relationships and never being able to figure out how to have proper friendships.
I’m 28. My husband is my best friend. I have 3 friends I talk to occasionally, but am not extremely close with them. I don’t know how people make lots of friends or nurture those friendships. My in laws are wonderful to me, but I still feel a bit awkward when I’m around them.
I don’t know how to describe it, but I really feel like my brain had some sort of “arrested development” due to having to focus on survival at a young age rather than developing normal social skills. Anyone else relate? Or am I just genuinely a weirdo that can’t make strong lasting friendships? Lol
I’d also even add that I have a hard time putting my husband, life, etc first because of work. It’s just hard to navigate this life now even though it is a much better situation than I once had.
TLDR; did having a narc parent cause you to have a harder time socially & struggle with developing relationships?