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Missing the Narcissist After They’re Gone

Candace Ranee
6 min readOct 21, 2021
Credit:martin-dm

After my three-year relationship with a diagnosed sociopath, I felt lost, broken, and totally unrecognizable. I no longer could identify with the lively, happy-go-lucky woman I used to be before him.

My abuser had twisted every imperfection within me, altering my entire personality. He had turned my life upside down in only a matter of months. I remember telling him specifically before I allowed him to move in:

“I live a very peaceful, life”

He looked at me with faux confusion. “Do you think I am going to make your life unpeaceful?”

“I just want you to know I enjoy my peaceful life.”

He acted wounded when I suggested that I wanted to help him with a place to live, but I also did not want his presence to disrupt my life. Little did I know how much my life would indeed be altered and disturbed.

I didn’t have a crystal ball to look into and see that from that moment on my reality with him would be anything but peaceful. I had no idea the ramifications I would soon be facing after my decision to take in a homeless person.

I’d been ensnared by a drug-addicted sociopath.

For a brief period, I still believed the image he had created during the love-bombing stages of the abuse cycle. This stage grooms…

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Candace Ranee
Candace Ranee

Written by Candace Ranee

Candace studied Sociology at Bowling Green State University. She is a writer and a DV Survivor

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