There is a story in a Greek myth about a guy named Narcissus who was looking for someone to love forever. One day, he found a beautiful nymph named Echo, who wanted to marry him. Narcissus rejected her, saying that she was not for him, saying that she was not for “a great guy like me”(I admit, these were not the word he actually said, but they SHOULD be!). Furious, Echo cursed Narcissus, saying that if he sees himself, he would kill himself. That kind of happened, Narcissus one day looked into his reflection into the water, and fell in love with it (which is pretty hilarious if you think about it 🤣). Since he couldn’t resist the feeling to kiss his refection, Narcissus drowned and met his end. The reason why I wanted to tell you this is that the personality that Narcissus had is the thing I am going to tell you about today, Narcissism.
But First of All, What IS Narcissism Anyway?
Narcissism is a type of condition that certain people have, but mostly men. It is really rare, only fewer than 200,000 cases in the USA. People that have narcissism (we mostly call these people narcissists) think about themselves, themselves and yes, themselves. In other words, narcissists think they look better, are smarter than, and more important than other people and they want EVERYONE to know that. So if you see someone in your class taking pictures of themselves during recess in school, you know that person is a narcissist.
The Two Types Of Narcissism in the World.
There are two mostly known types of narcissism in the world, Grandiose and Vulnerable narcissism. Grandiose Narcissism is the most common kind, which people want attention. Grandiose narcissists mostly focus on popularity and power. This kind of traits appear in politicians, celebrities, presidents and world leaders, and more! However, not EVERYONE that has these jobs have narcissism. A whole handful of people do it for good reasons, like reaching to improve themselves, make their parents or children proud, or make other people live a better life. But narcissists do it for power, status, popularity, or all three of these choices! Vulnerable narcissists are quiet and don’t speak that much. What makes those people arrogant is that they get easily angry or have other strong emotions when they don’t get the award they want. For example, let’s say you are in the annual science fair that only happens once a year. You step up onto the stage and get 1st place for Best Project! Your friend beside you gets 2nd place, she cries and throws the silver medal in the trash. Your friend can be known as a vulnerable narcissist. But all narcissists have only one thing in common, if they become unpopular or don’t get the thing they want, they become really aggressive. This can be a really serious problem to narcissists that grow up to have kids; Instead of taking care of their wife/husband and kids, they use the wife/husband and kids as pawns to make them do things for THEIR needs.
Dealing with Narcissism Note: This section is for Parents Only, so if you are a kid, close this tab NOW!
If you are dealing with a narcissist or are a narcissist yourself, it can be a hard thing to go through in life. Luckily, there are many ways to keep your kids safe from becoming a narcissist or making that child never a narcissist again, or possibly anti-narcissi yourself! One way to prevent (or anti-narcissi) your child (or yourself) is to keep them(or yourself) away from chatting apps like Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, and more! Social Media chatting apps power up narcissism, since the more likes on Facebook you get, the bigger the feeling that you get that makes you (or your child) think “Wow! I am the best person EVER!”. The second thing you (or suggest your children) can do is to write a message to the person thinks you are awesome the most. Ask them what they think you (or your children) can improve on, and do not respond back. Doing this will make you more humble about yourself, telling your brain that you are not perfect, and that’s a good thing. The third and final thing you can do is that you (or suggest your kids to) can do is to spend time with an activity with your family and do that for a week or for months. This will trigger your brain that spending time with your family is fun and you should spend time with them more.
I hope you enjoy this article of narcissism, it is a really bad thing we should eliminate in this world. By working together, we can get rid of narcissism and spend time with our family more, not hang out standing next to the mirror!
– Nova Subedi