Getting More Bandwidth to Heal and Thrive (And Where Did It Go in the First Place?)

My research in the field of psychology has focused on the impact of economics on mental health – and you don’t need to do that much research to figure out that not having enough money or time is not good for us.  And under those conditions of “scarcity” – we are not at our best. We may tunnel and focus on just one thing, we make decisions that may be focused only on the immediate future and what is right in front of us, not be able to plan, and feel mentally hazy.  When we think about bandwidth we usually think about our internet – and if we don’t have high speed internet or there are too many devices running on the internet, it runs slower – and this applies to all of us. ANYBODY with depleted bandwidth doesn’t function as well. Well, narcissistic relationships are MAJOR bandwidth depleters – these relationships take up time, mental energy, vigilance, and may also impact other real resources like money – all of this takes a very specific kind of mental toll on us.  Here is an analogy – think about if you didn’t sleep for an entire night- going 24 hours with no sleep – how do you feel? That is a pretty good sense of what a narcissistic relationship does to us.