You know about narcissism. There’s 2 sides to it. One side is the side you know about “overt” narcissism. Loud mouth flexing selfish cocky asshole. But the other side is called “covert” narcissism.
I came across an article talking about shyness is NOT nice. People will disguise their covert narcissism as being a sensitive introvert. It’s like passive aggressive narcissism.
I do think there are people who just can’t talk to people and are riddled with anxiety, that’s real. But the manipulation of a narcissist is about reassurance of self importance.
Like an overt might say, “I’m the shit.” Hoping you will agree and proceed to tell them how rad they are. And the covert might say, “I’m a piece of shit.” Hoping you will disagree and proceed to tell them how rad they are.
We have all experienced both sides of this. Either as the giver or receiver. It’s especially complicated in the age of social media and entrepreneurship. It stems from a fragile sense of self and that’s what I’m getting at.
We don’t need empowerment from other people. If we dig deep, we’ll realize we have an infinite well of it buried inside ourselves.