Boundaries for thee, none for me

Started by Invisiblewoman, April 30, 2024, 04:21:45 PM

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Invisiblewoman

just a dynamic I noticed. They will stonewall and get outraged the moment you try to have an honest discussion that requires equal participation, but will lose it when they can't have unfettered access to you, or get outraged when you suggest sanctions if they expose private information without asking, or just to make you look bad. You suggesting boundaries is abuse, but their violation of your boundaries is deserved, or because "they care."

What are you thoughts and experiences of this?

moglow

#1
I learned a while back to address things as they come up and lock down my end as needed, without discussion or negotiation. Live the boundaries became my motto. Explaining myself or asking anything reasonable just wasn't worth the effort. My mother had not one whit of interest in any honest discussion or anyone else's opinion, and would quickly flip anything said as an attack on her.

Somewhere along the way though, mother ran out of audience - her siblings all passed and she's the only one left. She never had any true friends that I'm aware of, only people who for some reason put up with her demands and snipes like I did for too long. She's well and truly isolated herself and has no sign for years that she wants anything any different, with even her own children. I had to find peace with that and let her be.

"She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom." ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
"Expectations are disappointments under construction." ~Capn Spanky, The Nook circa 2005ish

Invisiblewoman

I think I lived the boundaries by being invisible at times. In the end it paid off because as soon as I recognized the disrespect there was just no reason to engage. Just let them drift off. Clear lines became easier to draw.

I did try reasoning and saying I was unhappy with their disrespect but you aren't allowed to express that.  That victimized them, more so than things they did out of spite. It just gets spun back on me.

sunshine702

#3
My most jaw dropping Narc entitlement boundary shattering story was when my parents BROKE INTO my house — stuffing my mom through a cracked downstairs bathroom window for my dogs while I was at work.  And when I tried to ask them umm not to do that they didn't think anything was wrong.  They had "bought things from Costco for me.  So it was supposed to be all ok. Why they could not leave the items on the front patio like normal people in my safe neighborhood!

From that moment forward I never let them at my house but did not bother explaining. 

sunshine702

I honestly think the unfettered access is in my experience is for snooping / intelligence gathering.  My dad suggested he would give me money for some of the moving costs I have right now.  But he seems to want access to my bank account not just a Zelle payment.  He will be calling asking why I spent $15non pizza