I am a live-in caretaker to my 75 year old narcissist mother, who is on year two post-stroke. I'm an only child and the only person willing to take this on. She was a sad, broken person even before the stroke (anyone who is close to someone with NPD will know about the abuse and destruction they inflict on others). I'm 40 years old and I feel like I gave up my entire adult life for her. I moved back home (across the country) to take care of her. No friends, no life, and will have to quit my job once the office reopens later this summer.
Lately, I've felt an overpowering urge to run away from this life. No explanation, no looking back, just slipping out in the middle of the night and leaving without a trace. Does anyone else feel like this? And what do you do when you want to escape so badly it's all you can think about sometimes? And it's not just my mom I want to escape, I feel like going to a distant foreign country and being totally anonymous -- just a complete absence of responsibility to anyone and anything.