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Narcissism

Why You Will Only Play a Role in the Narcissist’s Life

Colleen Sheehy Orme
4 min readMay 12, 2020

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Photo by alleksana from Pexels

I mistakenly believed I was joining a partnership. Or as I always say, “a relationship should be as it implies — a ‘relay’ — a back and forth, and a give and take.”

But I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Instead, I played a part in the narcissist’s life. I was merely a face in his life picture. A portion of the perfect package he wished to create. He was assembling his world order. The success he could hang a shingle on…checking off the boxes.

I was the wife, the business partner, the mother. I would find the office space, the assistant, do the paperwork, run to the post office and the bank, clean the house, mulch the lawn, cook, whatever helped make his world go round.

Most girls, even independent ones like me, hope to meet a guy who makes us feel as if we are their whole world.

Rather than just fit neatly into theirs.

But most girls don’t marry narcissists.

On the surface, ours erred on the side of what could be considered a ‘traditional relationship.’ And this is exactly what fooled me for far too long. That and my husband reinforcing our roles.

He considered himself the fat cat big provider. The man who took care of everything while the little woman stayed at home. One of his favorite phrases was, “I’m a busy man.”

So I believed what I heard.

Sounds ridiculous but I did.

When you hear someone say the same things over and over again it tends to influence your thoughts. Add gratitude to that and I bought it all hook line and sinker. I could not help but feel indebted as my life was much easier than my mother’s had been.

But with age comes wisdom.

I began to realize we were less traditional and more ‘toddler-esque.’

We parallel played. In other words, we…

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Colleen Sheehy Orme
Colleen Sheehy Orme

Written by Colleen Sheehy Orme

National Relationship Columnist, Journalist & Former Business Columnist. I cover love, life, & relationships— #WomanResurrected colleen.sheehy.orme@gmail.com

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