5 Signs You Are Dating a Narcissist

A narcissist is known as a person who is in love with themselves. I was married to a narcissist. Let me tell you, these people are no fun to deal with. He was the type that was a real charmer, but portrayed himself as a person who he believed himself to be, but was nothing but lies, lies, and more lies. How do you know you are dealing with one yourself? There are five major signs to look for.

1. Know-It-All (Conversationally Center of Attention)

Narcissists tend to want to be the center of attention concerning conversations. My ex would want to butt in on conversations to make it all about him. He would also always talk about himself. It was like he was in love with himself. It drove me crazy! He always felt, too, that he was right about everything and knew more about subjects than anyone else. When having a conversation with him, it was like my thoughts or views never mattered to him. How do you have a conversation with someone who ignores the other person's views or thoughts? You don't. That's when people choose to shut down and not converse at all.

2. Disregard for Rules

My ex-husband would go to work and come home with all kinds of different things, such as supplies from work and more. He would tell me things like "Oh, my boss gave this to me because we no longer need these." Or he would say "They were just going to throw these away, anyway." At the time, I really didn't think anything of it, until he decided to go around his uncle's property and collect copper so that he could cash it in. It is not as if we were struggling or anything like that. It is as though he got a high off of breaking rules or laws. Sign #2 is that narcissists think that they are superior and cannot get in trouble for anything that they do. Good news! Things catch up with them in the end, believe it or not!

3. Creating a False Image

My ex was the type to portray himself as someone completely false in order to make himself look amazing. Funny, there are many people like this, but nothing like what I have dealt with. My ex's favorite story to tell girls he would get with is that he was an Army guy. He would tell stories about why he was discharged and when he was deployed. He blamed all his past relationships on his ex's. He gave me these stories. Once we split up, it was discovered by information from his family that none of this was true. Information like this would have been great to know at the time, but some people do not like to get involved. Truth found that he was a cheater (ex's never cheated on him), he was never in the Army, never overseas, had more kids than known about, and more marriages than known about. He actually went to armed forces-type stores and bought army gear to back his stories up. He made it out to be as if he was a hero and always a victim (relationship-wise). Narcissists LOVE to lie. They love to create an image (sometimes believe the lies that they are telling). They love to make it as though they are an amazing person, but in reality they are dying inside. They will not only lie about their image, but they lie about things financially, romantically, professionally, etc.

4. Entitlement

Narcissists feel that they are entitled to everything. They expect people to cater to them, no matter what the case. These people feel that the world revolves entirely around them. He would always expect special treatment from everyone, whether it was his bosses, myself, and his family, especially. He absolutely hated to be turned down on an offer or whatever the case may be.

5. Not Trustworthy

Narcissists are very much not trustworthy. This is regarding many different cases. My ex would constantly borrow money from family and friends. He would promise to pay it back at a certain time. When the time would come to actually do it, he would come up with every excuse in the book as to why he couldn't. If he wasn't lying about our financial situation (saying we were too broke to pay it back), he would lie to me saying that they told him to keep the money or he would say that something happened, along the lines, or a fight, and he was not paying them back. When he would do these things, he showed little remorse towards breaking promises and obligations. This brings me back to what was stated previously, that he felt he was always right! He did not care what anyone else thought. Narcissists tend to use others without considering the other person's feelings.

I put up with these things for two years with this man. I loved this man and thought (at the beginning) that he was who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. After paying attention and a series of events that occurred around our break-up time, I would never, ever give this person a second chance. We struggle to co-parent our daughter, because you are never sure when the things that he says are the truth or he is just feeding more lies upon lies. Narcissists are completely difficult to deal with, whether it is a relationship or a friendship. My advice to anyone that sees the signs when dating a person like this... RUN! I did! Who wants to put up with someone who acts like a child, lies, thinks that they are superior, and totally disregards other people's feelings?