I liberate myself from this unhealthy relationship.

A particular tiredness comes from constant translation. Checking a face before you speak. Running two versions of a remark to see which one lands better. Hearing, from the way a coat goes onto a hook, what sort of evening this will be.

That kind of watching is not a personality. It is a skill developed under conditions, and it costs more than almost anything else a person can do with a day.

Liberation rarely begins as an exit. It begins as a small internal permission — noticing, without immediately arguing yourself out of it, that the translating is happening at all, and that not everybody has to do it.