Dear Permission to be Powerful Reader,
Gaslighting isn’t just someone telling you, “That never happened.”
It’s far more insidious than that.
It’s someone telling you:
👉 “You don’t actually feel that way.”
👉 “That’s not what you meant.”
👉 “You’re just being sensitive.”
👉 “You’re lying to yourself.”
It’s not just erasing events—it’s erasing you.
It’s the slow, relentless process of making you doubt your own emotions, thoughts, and memories. Until one day, you wake up and don’t trust yourself at all.
👉 Maybe you start apologizing for things that aren’t your fault.
👉 Maybe you hesitate before speaking, afraid you’ll be told you’re “wrong” about your own experiences.
👉 Maybe you replay conversations in your head, trying to figure out if you really are the problem.
Gaslighting doesn’t just distort reality—it conditions you to abandon yourself.
And that’s the real danger.
Gaslighting Turns Your Own Mind Against You
At first, it feels like confusion.
Then, it feels like self-doubt.
Eventually, it feels like shame.
When someone rewrites your reality enough times, you don’t just question them—you question yourself.
👉 “Maybe I am overreacting.”
👉 “Maybe I did misinterpret that.”
👉 “Maybe I am the problem.”
Little by little, you stop trusting your instincts.
You start filtering everything through their version of reality.
And before you know it, you’ve lost your ability to tell the difference between truth and manipulation.
That’s how gaslighting works.
It doesn’t just control you.
It makes you control yourself.
The scariest part?
Most people don’t even realize it’s happening.
Because gaslighting doesn’t feel like a knife to the chest.
It feels like a whisper in your ear.
It sounds like:
👉 “I never said that.”
👉 “You’re making things up.”
👉 “Stop being dramatic.”
👉 “You always twist my words.”
And over time, without realizing it, you agree.
You agree to question yourself instead of them.
You agree to make yourself smaller so they don’t lash out.
You agree to ignore the warning signs, because it’s easier than the alternative.
Until one day, you wake up and realize—
You’re living in a reality that isn’t even yours.
You don’t need permission to trust yourself.
You don’t need evidence.
You don’t need proof.
You don’t need anyone to validate you.
👉 Your feelings are real.
👉 Your memories are real.
👉 Your intuition is real.
And the second you stop asking for permission to believe yourself?
That’s the moment gaslighting loses its power over you.
If someone constantly makes you question your own experiences—pay attention.
If someone dismisses, rewrites, or minimizes your reality—pay attention.
Because the most dangerous thing gaslighting steals from you isn’t the truth.
It’s your ability to recognize it.
And once you take that back?
You become untouchable.
Until next time,
Anton
Dancer, Writer, Buddhist.
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