Narcissists are frightened, fragile people. Rejection, humiliation, and even the tiniest of defeats can shake them to their core.
Loath to acknowledge such universal truths, narcissists rarely admit, let alone embrace, that to be human sometimes means having doubts, feeling lonely, making mistakes, and living with despair. To narcissists, such experiences are seen as weak, which they cannot allow.
As a result, narcissists live constantly on guard, viewing everyone as potential competitors. Narcissists’ strategies may differ—they may become blowhards, exhibitionists, charmers, or martyrs—but the goals are the same: to prevail every single time while always avoiding loss of face.
Ensconced in spinning a version of reality most favorable to them, narcissists tend to lie and misrepresent so readily that they become convinced that whatever they utter in the moment is true and right. To many around them, such conviction can be persuasive unless you spot the underlying man-behind-the-curtain dynamic.
~Narcissism Demystified, Dan Neuharth
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