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We've been taught that endurance equals strength. That staying means we're strong enough to handle it. But what if the very strength that kept you surviving in a narcissistic relationship is the same strength that will set you free?

In this powerful episode, Marcia challenges everything you thought you knew about strength in toxic relationships. She reveals the critical difference between survival mode strength - the over-functioning, tolerance, and walking on eggshells we mistake for resilience - and true strength that chooses self-preservation over performance.

Drawing from her own 30-year marriage to an overt narcissist, Marcia exposes how we get validation for "handling" difficult partners, how we confuse tolerance with resilience, and why waiting to "feel strong enough" keeps us stuck for decades. She shares the truth about rock bottom, the terrifying moment when the veil of denial lifts and you finally see what you can no longer unsee.

This isn't about how to leave - it's about understanding that you already have the strength. You've been using it to survive. Now it's time to redirect that same power toward healing. Because the strength doesn't come before the doing. The strength comes IN the doing.

If you've been waiting to feel strong enough, this episode will show you why that's the very thing keeping you trapped - and how to take that first scary step forward without a backup plan.

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