Stick a fork pin in it. It’s done.

This great analogy came up in a Facebook conversation. The analogy isn’t mine, but from another survivor of narcissistic abuse, a woman named Mary Pranzatelli, who asked me to use her name. Mary says:

You just know at the core of that [narcissistic] man/woman is an inner child. And you feel like there is hope that you can pop the balloon that has suffocated this child. A narc reminds me of a balloon. You keep blowing air in his/her balloon. Eventually you become exhausted from blowing into this balloon. The air slowly seeps out… And the Narc needs a new source to blow him up again.

Blowing air in the balloon…is supply. When a Narcissist gets bored or has a Narcissistic injury the balloon deflates…and the person that fails to blow air into the balloon consistently, becomes devalued and discarded. You can only blow up a balloon for so long…

Narcissists are just balloons filled with hot air, and as survivors, we can visualize popping them or letting the air out. It’s a funny exercise, but could help because thinking of them as balloons can make them seem less threatening.

Remember too, narcissists, like balloons, are extremely fragile. They need a constant supply of air from an outside source to float. Otherwise, they are just a limp piece of thin rubber.