I am worthy and deserving of my beautiful dreams.

Some people order the second-cheapest thing on the menu their whole lives, and not because of money.

It's a reflex learned early — don't be a bother, don't want too visibly, keep the ask small enough that nobody could refuse it.

The same reflex edits dreams before they are ever said aloud. The version you tell people has usually been trimmed twice: once for plausibility and once for modesty.

Try naming the untrimmed one, even if only to yourself in the car. You may find you have been negotiating hard against an opponent who left the table years ago.