Growing up high-functioning or socially aware makes you hyper-attuned to other people's expectations. You learned early to read rooms, you became fluent in the micro-expressions that signal approval or withdrawal, you developed an almost supernatural ability to modulate your intensity, your opinions, your very presence to match what others could

These moments feel uncomfortable initially, but something interesting happens: your body starts telling you before your brain does that peace exists where performance used to live. Each time you choose authenticity over accommodation, you're rewiring your stress responses. The nervous system learns that social disapproval isn't existential threat.