Narcissists act selfishly and arrogantly.
They require admiration and reassurance they’re better than the rest of us. And usually, receive it by (indirectly) humiliating and belittling others. Another important detail is most of them don’t know that they have a narcissistic personality or simply refuse to admit what kind of people they are.
On top of that, they hate seeing others do well in life. This terrifies them to an extreme degree. The reason is that narcissists actually lack self-confidence although they try to persuade others (and themselves) they are extremely confident people.
Below you can read 12 more things that scare the narcissist to death.
1. Rejection
The narcissist usually puts on a mask so that they can be accepted and liked by others. They wouldn’t admit that anyone could be put off by their egotistic character. If a person decides to leave the narcissist’s life, the latter will take it personally and will surely try to bring the other person back. However, if they don’t succeed they’ll probably start slandering about their former friend.
The reason for such a behavior is that behind the narcissist’s fake attitude lies a frightened, little soul who is terrified that they aren’t good enough, but they would never say it openly. They’ll be likely to do whatever it takes to keep their reputation.
2. Disrespect
Narcissists’ ego is fragile that’s why they are hardly ever able to accept criticism. So if they are criticized they can’t handle it.
They lack empathy hence are incapable of walking in someone else’s shoes. Yet if the narcissist’s flaws are revealed, or if they are criticized they might react aggressively and verbally attack the other person in self-defense. As mentioned above reputation is everything to a narcissist and he or she can’t handle someone ruining it by acting disrespectfully to them.
3. Not being the center of the universe
Narcissists crave attention, respect, and admiration. And if they don’t get any of these forms of recognition they won’t be satisfied. They need constant reassurance that they are great and being ignored is like someone throwing a bucket of cold water over them. The reason is that these people are full of self-importance, and take things personally.
4. Failure
Narcissists fear failure or being outshined. They just can’t accept there’s someone out there who’s better than them. On top of that, if a narcissist can’t achieve their goal, they will always blame someone else about it, even if it is obvious that it’s entirely their fault. They usually blame their closest people to have hindered them from succeeding. This is actually the only way to feel a bit better about their failure.
5. Poeple joking with them
Narcissists enjoy making fun of others because it makes them feel more confident about themselves. However, they just can’t accept when someone makes fun of them. They are very touchy and would expect to receive an apology, even if the joke wasn’t harsh.
6. Responsibility
Narcissists seldom take responsibility for anything because they think it’s never their fault. When someone criticizes them, it makes them angry and frustrated. People avoid defending their point of view when dealing with a narcissist because the latter always finds a way to justify their behavior.
7. Death
Thinking about death could cause discoformt to anyone but for narcissists, it is a taboo. They are afraid if their accomplishments will be remembered and if what they’ve done in their lives is significant. They’re also scared of the possibility that someone might ruin their reputation after they die as they won’t be able to defend it anymore.
8. Remorse
The reason why they fear remorse is quite simple. To a narcissist, remorse is a sign of weakness. It reveals they could also be vulnerable and emotional. If they feel remorse it means they are like everybody else – weak and fragile. Remorse is also a form of admittance that you have made a mistake. And as previously mentioned narcissists believe they are the best and making a mistake is unthinkable. Last but not least, remorse shows regret and narcissists hardly ever regret their actions.
9. Being close with others
They want others to think of them as superior people, but deep inside their soul, the narcissist knows that this is not true. That’s why they won’t let anyone close enough to themselves. Revealing what is wrong with their personality is something narcissists are definitely afraid of. Looking critically at themselves horrifies the narcissist and could shock them to the core.
10. Building relationships
To be in a relationship, you have to be loving, giving and compromising something a narcissist certainly can’t be. On top of that being in a long-term relationship could reveal that they’re not as great as they think.
11. Not having authority
One more big fear of narcissists is they might not occupy a position of power and have no influence on people. No wonder, the majority of tyrants are narcissists. The main life goals of all narcissists are being in power and demonstrating excellence. They are competitive and want to win at any price.
12. Shame
Shame is unpleasant for everyone but for the narcissist, it’s absolutely horrifying. The main reason is that shame could negatively impact his/her reputation and give him/her a lower status in their social circle. Since narcissists live for being admired and their pride is of great importance doing something that could make the narcissist look bad in the eyes of others or make them feel ashamed is one of the most dreaded experiences for them.
Narcissists try to look confident in front of others but this is a part of their fake self they show to the world.
The truth is that these individuals have a lot of fears which are caused by the fact they’re actually insecure and with low self-esteem. If you know anyone who behaves in a narcissistic manner, you’d better distance yourself.
