The Day My Best Friend Became a Narcissist
--
“I noticed something was different about my best friend, we will call him Lance, after we had gone out to lunch. “He was so different than what I was used to. He’s always been the person that I could call on and say I needed something, and he was always there to help,” I remember saying to my husband. “But today, I thought, he was acting really weird.” I remember that day because it was the day that I realized Lance was becoming a narcissist.
The day I realized that my best friend was becoming a narcissist.
I was talking to a co-worker at work, a woman who I have gotten to know over the last few years. She is a very nice person and we have become good friends. We talk about many things, and I confided in her about my best friend Lance. I realized that he had changed. Over the past year or so, Lance had become more and more distant from me. I noticed that he wasn’t as friendly as he used to be, and I had to be clear with him that I wanted to be friends with him again. But over time it became more and more clear that he was becoming more and more distant.
I remember one time I asked him if he wanted to go for lunch as we usually do everyday, and he said no. The next day I asked again. He said no again. So, the next day I asked again. He said no again. This continued for some time. Eventually, I asked him why not, and he just said no, he had to go home.
Over time, I noticed that he was taking longer and longer to respond to my texts and phone calls. He would always respond within a few minutes, but not longer. I was really confused and worried. I asked him why he was acting so strange, and he told me that he was having a bad day and didn’t feel like talking. I didn’t know what to think. I was worried about something going on at home, but I didn’t know what.
Then one day, it hit me. Lance was becoming a narcissist. You see, Lance had always been a person who had an excessive interest in or admiration for himself. He has always been very self-centered and took every opportunity to talk about himself: his accomplishments, his likes, his house, his cars, his big idea. He has always been very, very self-centered.
But, over the last few months, he began to take this to a whole new level. He began to talk about himself more and more…