It really does get better (sorry so long)

I came here a few years ago wondering what the heck was going on with the world. I seemed to only meet, and date, narcissistic men, each one getting progressively worse. I do believe the world is pushing out more narcissists in this "all about me" society we seem to live in now. However, I now realize that it was something broken inside me that allowed me to gravitate towards and be taken in by these types of men. I am not even exactly sure how it changed inside me but I do credit a great deal of it to being here and reading and sharing with the strong, caring people on this forum. I read and I read and I did a lot of soul searching. I guess I cannot pinpoint exactly what happened in my life that made me so vulnerable to these types of men but I finally came to the conclusion, that at least for me, I didn't have to know what caused it. I just had to change it. I decided to listen to the words of advice here, whether it was given directly to me or to another hurting soul on this forum. I started to tell myself that I did truly deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and love just like every other living creature. I told myself that regularly until I finally started believing it. I began to refuse to be treated poorly by anyone and either used my voice to express that or just walked away, whichever was the better choice at the time. I guess there were a lot of things that contributed to why I dated narcissists and some of those things came into light, but only after I started taking better care of my own heart and soul, and by refusing to be treated in any way that was hurtful to me. I imagined what I say to my daughter if I found her allowing anyone to treat her that way. I started realizing that I was worthy of that same advice and care.
It does get better. We do get better.
I met a wonderful man a little over a year ago. I have learned that taking it slow IS the way to go for me. I need time to process things. An important thing I have learned is that it is healthy when you find someone who respects your pace and respects your boundaries, even if you are just learning them yourself. It is healthy when you talk to someone and they listen, and they hear you and never belittle you for your thoughts or feelings, even if they don't quite understand them. It is healthy when someone accepts you for who you really are and doesn't try to change that to please themselves, even if they don't necessarily like it. It is healthy when that respect for each other is mutual.
I stopped looking for what I thought was "my type" and immediately crossing off those who I thought weren't. I opened my mind but never let myself lose focus on what I needed.
I had also worked hard to write a list of things that I knew I wanted and needed in a relationship. I wrote things from the simplest thing to things I considered most important, the must haves, like trust and honesty and respect. I also wrote a list of thing that I didn't want or need, from the simplest to the most important, like being mocked or belittled (even in a joking way- because I now know they weren't joking and I wasn't being "overly sensitive") or lied to about anything. I circled the "deal breakers" and committed them to memory and stopped lying to myself that those were acceptable to me in any way.
And maybe most importantly, I learned I have a right to ask for what I need out of a relationship and they also have the same right.
No contact is the only way and IT DOES GET BETTER!