You raised one thing at the Tuesday meeting. A fortnight later you’re the one everybody’s careful around, and nobody’s mentioned the invoice since.

You always thought the law would back you if you told the truth. Then you tried, and watched it protect the calmest person in the room instead.

You said the true thing and watched the room decide, calmly, that you were the one with the problem. That was never proof you were wrong.

You didn't choose to smile and keep the peace. Somewhere back at the dinner table or the classroom, you got trained to, and you're only just now noticing the lever.

You wrote three captions and posted the one that sounded least like you tried. Four minutes later you were back, refreshing, just counting.

You typed sure, no worries and hit send before you'd worked out if you even had the time. The dread showed up four seconds later.

You texted "can't make Friday" without the usual three paragraphs of sorry, and the silence that came back told you everything.

Your friend cancels again. You reply 'no worries, hope you're okay,' and inside you're fuming. If you let people walk all over you, don't be shocked when they don't stop.

You read the room before you walk into it. You became easy to like, easy to manage, easy to take advantage of. That's not a personality trait. It's a trauma response in disguise.