After 18 years, 4 months and 28 days, I got out of a group that looked relatively normal from the outside. We were engaged in deep soul work, determined to free ourselves from unnecessary baggage so that we could become true men and women of God. We were smart professionals, and good-hearted, sincere people who wanted a better life.

My story, the story about my daughter (who was in a cult for 30 years) has wracked me with guilt, sorrow and anger. But that was later. Before that, I was just numb. Before that I was ignorant, unknowing.

When it comes to narcissists and cults, we all see what we want to see and there’s just enough glimpses of that to make us stay in spite of the abuse...and in some cases the abuse is framed in such a way that if one perseveres, there’s growth and soul evolution to be had in the other side.

I don't know when I realized my daughter was in a cult and she was in it for 30 years. I remember a conversation in a parking lot with one of the other members, at least 15 years after she had joined, where I bemoaned the state of affairs not understanding why our "relationship" was the way it was.

The grandkids; they won’t let them see me much.
They tell them scary things of me and my beliefs.

For twenty years after being expelled from my cult, I remained mentally attached. I decided to see if there was a group in my situation and stumbled across the truth that I had been a victim of a cult.