At some point in life, without even realizing it, most of us stop expressing who we are—and start protecting whom we’ve become. It doesn’t happen all at once. There’s no announcement. No defining moment. Just small adjustments. You hold your tongue instead of speaking your truth. You laugh when something doesn’t feel funny. You agree when something doesn’t feel right. And over time, those moments stack. What began as awareness turns into caution. Caution then becomes habit, a