Some days I feel like a gerbil on a wheel, going around and around, not getting anywhere. The more I try to change, the more I stay the same. Or so it seems. Now, I’m looking at the drama that my neighbour creates as opportunity to change. Sure, it brings distress, but the disruption gives me a pause to examine myself and my life. I ask myself:
- What is it that is here before me?
- How and what led up to it?
- What can I do about it? What has helped? What hasn’t?
- Who owns this property?
- Who owns me?
- What is important to me? What isn’t? What are my core values?
- What are my goals for this month of writing for the Ultimate Blog Challenge?
I find it necessary to revisit and review my goals and purposes, if not daily then weekly. My biggy is to fall madly in love with life again. To do that I have to work out and disengage my feelings from my narcissistic/psychopathic neighbour. She has wormed under my skin and seeped into my soul. I have become as obsessive of her as she is with me. I’m a bit of a drama queen, but only with words. They are a fair discription. I am more articulate with the written word. Verbally, I sound defensive and blaming. That’s not who I am. But I am guilty of being a self blamer.
Assessing how I’ve done this past week, I think I am doing ok. My storm within has chilled. I can look at my video of our drama together without the cloud of emotion. I can see that she had set me up again. I’m still that gerbil on a wheel. She was prepared for the camera, set for the game -apologizing, apologizing. What she didn’t say on camera was that she had been chucking my landscaping rocks at me the previous time. And she never apologized.
Some of people not knowing our history would see that I was the provoker. She was, after all, apologizing over and over and in her yard. What the video doesn’t show was she was ‘weeding’ around stuff I had just planted a few days ago. When I came out (I think she baited me), she high tailed into her flowerbed. She started calling me names and such. That’s when I turned the camera on. What matters though is I have captured her trespassing. The police does know the history.
She is right that the fence line is 6 inches from her driveway. My surveyor’s certificate has my fence sitting 2 inches inside my property. She already has the extra 2 inches in the back where the fence stopped at the front of my house. So why would she not give permission for me to access her property so the fence guys can extend the fence to the street? Then there would be no dispute and she can have her 6 inches. And she is the one who tells me she has the right to have a 2 foot access into my yard. Of course she doesn’t talk this way with the police liason officer last fall. She also didn’t tell him that she knows alot of people at city hall and the police department. That’s what she tells me.
I am getting a little disturbed and distress recounting this. I will stop now but it was necessary for me to see with more clarity. She is very clever and good at this. I am not and I don’t want to be. I continue to find little gems of wisdom from this man. Hopefully I can get off the wheel at the end of this Ultimate Blog Challenge. Wish me luck.
onethousandandtwo 
Lily the situation with your neighbor seems really challenging, good for you by drawing some boundaries around how long you will let yourself deal with this.
It is, Cindy. Thank you for reading.
I wish you luck but if she has a right to two feet on your property then you also have a right to two feet on hers. Still, I wish you luck
Thank you for your good wishes. According to her, things only work one way. She does not talk that way to the police. She tells me that the bylaw allows her 2 feet access. She does not allow me to talk. She talks over me and to the police also.
I definitely wish you luck with your neighbor situation. This is so stressful and aggravating!
I enjoy visiting and reading your blog, even when times are rough.
Thank you, Julie. I do need luck with this woman. It is stressful and very aggravating but it offers an opportunity to examine myself.
Toxic neighbors are a truly tough situation to deal with. I’d get a security camera installed on that side of the house to have a record of her incursions and interactions. If she is delighting in aggravating you, then being firm but not emotional might deprive her of the drama she wants.
It’s difficult for proper placement of camera to catch the right angle. I don’t think it would deter her. I had a sign on each of the 2 trees in front appealing to friends and neighbours to watch out for vandalism and trespassing. One was near her driveway. I had put them up after meeting with the police liason officer last fall. She ripped it off last week. I was surprised it lasted that long. 🙂 Yes, I have to work on myself.
WOW your neighbor needs to do something constructive instead of challengit you. Stand your ground and hopefully you will get off the wheel so you can get on with life.
Thank you, Martha. After 12 years of this, I don’t expect her to change her ways. I do have to stand my ground because ignoring and allowing hasn’t worked.