Member-only story
How Did I Attract a Narcissist?
Understanding how I unknowingly made my relationship choices
It had taken months to work up the courage to ask my marriage counselor a foreboding question. A haunting question that spooked me.
Yet I was even more afraid of the answer.
But I was ready to hear the truth.
“I know this is about me,” I say. “What is it about me that attracted me to this personality?”
I had either unintentionally or intentionally waited until the hour was almost over to speak these words.
The avoider in me frequently puts off unpleasant things. Hence, my counselor had just opened the door when he paused to respond.
“Oh, Colleen,” he says. “Not everything is textbook. But it may be because you had a father who physically abandoned you and therefore, you attracted yourself to a man who emotionally abandoned you.”
I appreciate my counselor for his ability to not textbook label everything.
The world is far too complex for that. There are moments where absolutely some things can neatly fall into the black and into the…