🎠What it means to have grown up with a manipulative parent
Growing up with a manipulative parent meant living in a house of mirrors where reality was constantly distorted and your parent's version of events always took precedence over your own experience.
You may have grown up with a parent who was a master of emotional chess, always several moves ahead in getting what they wanted through guilt, shame, or psychological pressure. They might have twisted your words, rewritten history to suit their narrative, or made you feel crazy for remembering things differently than they did. Praise came packaged with hidden agendas, and kindness often had invisible strings attached that you'd discover later when the bill came due.
This experience made you incredibly perceptive about people's hidden motives and skilled at navigating complex social dynamics, but it shattered your ability to trust your own perception of reality. You may now automatically question genuine care, struggle to accept compliments without looking for the catch, or find yourself either completely deferring to others' perspectives or stubbornly rejecting them entirely. Your inner GPS for what's real and true may feel permanently broken.