My father is a tried and true narcissist. I was 39 years old before I realized that. See, before that time, I thought it I was the one who is “difficult.” Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING was always my fault. I’ve been told all my life that my family had to “walk on eggshells” to keep from upsetting me. I was a powder keg, a time bomb ready to go off at any moment. I was impossible to please. Now, in retrospect, I can see that all of those labels belonged to them, not me.
According to my parents, I was way too demanding.  They could never give me “enough” time, “enough” love, “enough” affection.” Four decades later, I realize that a little of any of those would have been more than enough.

From a great website on NPD

“The material on Narcissistic Personality Disorder that is published for lay readers is not very informative, even though most people have had to cope with a narcissist at one time or another. If you were raised by a narcissistic parent, then you’ve been taught that the narcissist is always right and you’re the one who’s wrong. A lifetime of such mistreatment typically instills lack of confidence in your own judgment, along with habitual shame at never getting it right or being good enough to deserve the air that you breathe. The children of narcissists may not have realized that the quirks and oddities of their impossible-to-please parents are not in any way unique or special but are in fact the symptoms of a personality disorder. “

You rock Johanna.