Digital Hand-Lettering: How to Deal with Stalkers & Copycats

The digital hand-lettering illustrations in this post are inspired by Middle Eastern and North African wisdom and mysticism, Moroccan architecture, and Mediterranean folk embroidery – with the Hand of Fatima being the main motif signifying knowledge and insight into the human soul.

Today’s digital hand-lettering illustrations tackle an unpleasant topic, but since we all have to deal with unpleasantness every once in a while, I thought of sharing a few tips to help you deal with stalkers, copycats and psychopaths in your immediate or cyber vicinities!

The story goes as follows: I have two relatives that share remarkably similar traits. One is very calculative and collected (sociopath), while the other is slightly unhinged (psychopath). Let’s face it, we all have at least one person like that in our personal or professional lives, or on the net. In fact, thanks to social media, I’m almost certain everyone has a psychopath in their lives, or at least among their social media followers.

The common trait that makes these two feel like mother-and-son (she is actually his former step-mom) is their extreme lack of empathy, coupled with a total absence of remorse. Needless to say, both are extremely manipulative with layered illusions of grandiosity and a narcissistic self-perception. They also lie and cheat, and have total lack of integrity, making them unmistakable hypocrites who pretend to be one thing, while they’re the complete opposite.

Underneath it all, these people have no principles or ethics, they are after self-interest 100% of the time. They are Machiavellian about every aspect of their lives including every relationship they’re part of – with their spouses, siblings, children, co-workers and anyone who is unfortunate enough to cross paths with them.

Psychopaths and sociopaths are all about gaining access into their victim’s psyche. That’s why it is of utmost importance to them to violate the boundaries of their victims to gain leverage. In many cases, they are charming, which is their weapon of choice to disarm the people around them to manipulate and gaslight them. They have no remorse, no sense of shame, and have no respect for the rules that they claim to follow. They listen to you super attentively so as to calculate their next move, and they are fast learners who can mimic emotions they don’t genuinely have, such as empathy and love.

Tip 1: Show Them ‘You Know’

I’ve known the two people mentioned above for a really long time. One of them (the sociopath) managed to fool me for a lifetime really. I used to sing him praises and I was always good to him, only to discover a couple of years back that he’s been backstabbing me all along, while pretending to be my friend.

I said my “friend,” not my “supporter” for a reason. These types dedicate their energy to playing a double-edged role in your life: They pretend to be your charming friend, all while hacking at your self-confidence. They actively look for ways to undermine you at every turn, but they do it in a subtle way and with a smile on their face.

Thanks to educating myself in recent years on the issue of predation and the techniques of the predatory personality, I discovered that people like this guy resort to a sophisticated form of trickery and gas-lighting as their main psychological tactic to gaining control over your unsuspecting self. They pretend to miss you and care about you, they even praise you to keep you on a short leash, giving them enough cover to continue stealing your ideas and copycatting your initiatives.

These types also work on isolating their victims by damaging their relationships with other people in the circles they both share. Meanwhile, they pretend to be helping bring people together through large-scale dinners and events designed to position themselves as (fake) caregivers and community champions.

But the interesting news is, what generally drives them to fixate on you is their undying jealousy of you. Let’s face it, you are more talented, more honest, have achieved success with genuine ideas, and unlike them have a pure soul.

So let’s say, you’ve finally freed yourself from their web of lies, what do you do next? Here’s a quick tip: You show them you know the truth about who they really are. You also let them know you are well aware they’ve been stalking you and gathering information about everything you do to manipulate you (even though you’ve blocked them). You tell them you know they are remorseless backstabbers, and that they’ve been copycatting your ideas out of jealousy and envy.

Show them you can see right through them and what you see deserves no respect. After all, people who like lurking in the dark feel uneasy around a strong spotlight blinding their feeble sight.

Tip 2: Set Some Non-Negotiable Boundaries

There are many ways to communicate to the people who stalk and copycat you the following warning: Time to stop.

Tell them to stop, but don’t sit back and expect them to be charitable about it. After all, their intrinsic mode of action is almost always to manipulate you into some scheme or another. Also, chances are, with people who have no moral compass, they will end up trying to test your warning by playing different mind games to keep you under their control.

So the point here is, don’t just say “enough is enough.” You also need to follow up with clear action geared towards ending this charade.

Whatever “language” you choose to use, make it clear to them that you have drawn the final line. These people prey on targets that have issues with boundaries, so start learning to say “No,” and put in place some serious limits for predators and psychopaths to respect.

If they are so unhinged that they refuse to respect the boundaries you’ve set for them, it’s time to close the door on this chapter of your existence and never let them be part of your life again. Just don’t waste the precious time you have on earth on toxic predators and psychos who treat others as pawns in their self-worshipping drama. Godspeed!

About This Post’s Digital Hand-Lettering Illustrations

The digital hand-lettering illustrations in this post are inspired by mysticism, Moroccan motifs and architecture, and Mediterranean folk embroidery.

The hand of Fatima is a common motif manifesting in different contexts across traditional Muslim and Sufi art in different parts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region). This motif can be seen in Morocco, Turkey and even intricate Muslim Andalusian art in Spain. In modern day Levant, this motif is common in countries like Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan – seen plastered all over cups, purses, coasters, and even clothing.

One of the interesting variations on the theme happens to be the inclusion of an eye in the centre of the Hand of Fatima’s palm. Modern-day interpretations of this eye include negative connotations like envy, the mother source of evil. However, I do believe the original meaning of the eye is “knowledge and insight into the human soul.”

To defeat envy, jealousy and the persistent or occasional predator in our lives, one needs to be armed with knowledge and insight. That’s why, the eye in these digital hand-lettering artworks suggests three things: I know what you’re doing, I can see you, and I have deep insight into the corruption of your soul.

Digital Hand-lettering illustrations by illustrator and artist Yaansoon | This illustration was created using the Procreate app on iPad Pro.