🔁 Old Habits
I am a recovering people-pleaser. I have spent much of my life saying yes when I meant no. Trying to be good. Trying to be easy. Trying to avoid disappointment, rejection, or conflict.
That is not true consent. It is trauma. It is masking. It is survival. I need help to stay honest.
🌱 What to Notice
If I seem too agreeable, check in. If I go quiet instead of setting a boundary, notice. What I need is the safety to say no without consequence.
If I withdraw or go flat, it is not rejection. It is my brain shutting down. I may be burned out, overstimulated, or overwhelmed. In those moments, I need stillness and space. Not fixing. Not pressure.
🔥 The Spiral
If my silence is taken personally, it spirals us both. What I need in those moments is patience, not punishment. Softness, not suspicion. I will return when I am safe to do so.
🌿 My Reflection
These patterns run deep in me. My old instinct is to please, to agree, to avoid conflict at any cost. But I do not want to live like that anymore.
What I need is someone who sees beyond the mask. Someone who knows that silence can be survival, not indifference. Someone who gives me the space to be honest, even when the truth is no.
That is where trust lives. That is where I can give myself fully.
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