A reflective article on workplace masking, neurodivergence and the phrase “you’ve changed”, exploring how authenticity, boundaries and reduced masking can be mistaken for attitude, disengagement or decline.

Masking is not always the enemy. Sometimes it protects us, helps us survive and gets us through rooms that do not feel safe. But when the mask becomes the default, it can quietly become a prison. This article explores neurodivergent masking, policing, self-acceptance and learning to stop disappearing beneath the performance.

There is a strange feeling when you spend years watching the world slowly open a door, only to then hear the hinges creak as people start pushing it shut again.

There is a particular kind of stupidity in deciding to put creative work into the world when you already know what people can be like. I say stupidity with affection, because apparently I keep doing it.

Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) is a hidden force in many neurodivergent lives. I'll behoest, I hde mine pretty well...but I souldn't.