I couldn’t get the attention and approval that I needed from my narcissistic father. I craved his attention and approval when I was a child — and I kept craving those things from him as an adult. If someone had suggested this to me 15 years ago, I would have denied it. I just wouldn’t have been able to accept that I still needed the approval that I never got when I was young.
When I was growing up, I received a lot of attention and praise from other people. I was a very high achiever as a child. I did receive attention and approval from many other people over the years for the things I did, but I felt like a fraud — as though I didn’t deserve it — all because he would not give me the approval I was seeking.
Every time I got recognition or praise or awards, I had one eye on him — and I was silently asking whether this one would finally be good enough for him.
This is the next in a series of videos dealing with issues that come up for me to think about as I write a book about my childhood experience of growing up with a narcissistic father. You can visit that YouTube channel to subscribe to future videos. (Liking and subscribing help me quite a bit in reaching others with the videos.) Or you can watch the most recent video below.
Faith is our only assurance that rebirth will come again in spring
Rights or choices? It might be time to re-frame the debate
The gifts we give children shape them and reveal what we expect of them
Almost all of us feel alienation if we don’t find a place to call home
Far-left political idiocy is ruining remake of Disney’s ‘Snow White’
Why do we paint ourselves into joyless corners with no way out?
Our voluntary decisions can lead to a new beginning for America
Old photos have me thinking about who I was then, how far I’ve come
Friday’s article will be delayed