Gratitude

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  Adult Children of Narcissists - Adverse Childhood Experiences - Boundaries - cPTSD - cPTSD Healing - Gen X - Generational Trauma - Gratitude - Narcissistic Abuse Recovery - Narcissistic Parent - No Contact - Recovery - Survivor - Trauma

  I’ll Take My Bacon Crispy, Please

  February 26, 2026 - By Andrew Pumpelly

  Today I turn 51. Which means somewhere in my brain, I’m staring at a breakfast plate with bacon arranged into the number 51. If you know, you know. Last year, at 50, I found myself standing in the wreckage of the Mom-pocalypse.This year, at 51, I’m just… eating breakfast calmly.…

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  Adult Children of Narcissists - Adverse Childhood Experiences - Boundaries - cPTSD - cPTSD Healing - Gen X - Gratitude - Narcissistic Abuse Recovery - Recovery - Survivor - Trauma

  What I’m Carrying Into the New Year (And What I’m Finally Setting Down)

  January 1, 2026 - By Andrew Pumpelly

  I’m not making resolutions this year. Not because I don’t believe in growth.Not because I’ve “given up.”But because resolutions assume the problem is insufficient effort. And that’s not what this past year taught me. 2025 wasn’t a year of self-improvement.It was a year of self-extraction. From lies.From roles that were…

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  Adult Children of Narcissists - Adverse Childhood Experiences - Boundaries - cPTSD - cPTSD Healing - Emotional Abuse - Financial Abuse - Gen X - Generational Trauma - Gratitude - Holiday Triggers - Holidays - Hypervigilance - Narcissistic Abuse Recovery - Narcissistic Parent - No Contact - Recovery - Survivor - Trauma

  A No Contact Christmas: What the Holidays Feel Like After Cutting Ties With a Narcissistic Parent

  December 25, 2025 - By Andrew Pumpelly

  For most of my life, Christmas came with a low-grade dread I didn’t have language for. On the surface, it looked like a normal holiday — lights, food, family photos. Underneath, my nervous system knew better. Holidays weren’t about joy or connection. They were tests. Performances. Emotional obstacle courses where…

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  Adverse Childhood Experiences - Boundaries - cPTSD - Emotional Abuse - Financial Abuse - Financial Stability - Gratitude - Hypervigilance - Narcissistic Parent - No Contact - Recovery - Spirituality - Substance Abuse - Survivor - Trauma - Triggers

  Faith & Trauma — Part 3: When Faith Stops Being a Performance

  December 14, 2025 - By Andrew Pumpelly

  I was raised in an extremely conservative expression of Christianity — the Church of Christ. I’m not here to bash that tradition. There are good people there.Sincere people.Faithful people. But inside my family system, church didn’t feel like refuge. It felt like performance. Who I Thought I Was Performing For…

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  Bitcoin - Boundaries - cPTSD - Financial Stability - Gratitude - Narcissistic Parent - No Contact - Recovery - Substance Abuse - Survivor - Trauma

  Gratitude — Thanksgiving 2025

  November 27, 2025 - By Andrew Pumpelly

  For most of my life, I thought gratitude only came after everything was healed, settled, and safe. Now I know better. Gratitude is what grows in the middle of the ashes — after the unmasking, after the collapse, after the truth burns everything down and you’re still standing. Today is…