Worried about Narcissism

[nathan]

How do you combat it when you notice it in yourself?

I often notice how my narcissism, which I believe is relatively high, hinders my experience. It hinders my chances with friendships and things.

I still get anxious often, but if i'm not anxious I'm usually overly narcisstic. Is it even possible for them to be comorbid? Am i bi-polar, anxious in my downtime and narcisstic in my manic times? I know I'm dropping a lot of "labels" here, that doesn't necessarily falsify my thoughts. Im not really using them to diagnose myself, more so for the concepts i'm trying to bring accross here.

In a way think both anxiousness and narcissism have some commonalities. First of all, you cant really be anxious if you truly feel you have nothing to loose, that is to say, if your ego is not all so important, you are not really going to get anxious over things that could afftect your ego. But if your ego is everything, which for a narcissist it is, you can experience mountains of anxiety in regards to your performance. My ego is the driver of my narcissism.

and then you can question which came first. Did my innate narcissm lead to my anxiety over performance? Or is my anxiety innate, and my narcissm a way to deal with my anxiety, like a coping mechanism that feeds of positive reinforcemnet to combat my tendency to worry?

It likely works in a diffrent way, but they seem to work together somehow, they go hand in hand. I know I experience both, however, I feel like I am getting control of my anxiety, I am able to step away from my anxiety when I feel it. But my narcissm is more insideous, I can't sense when it is happening, not in the same way I can sense anxiety.

[nathan]

yeah, I suppose that goes against the definition of a narcissist, which means I shouldn't really use that term, but that doesn't mean I can't have moments of grandiosity. I often do. I seem to fluctuate between anxiousness and grandiosity.

[nathan]

yeah I know what you mean, I can definitely get it when I'm angry too, but its not limited to anger either.