You're good at your job. Maybe very good. You get things done, you hold the team together, you're the person people come to when things fall apart.
And yet, you dread certain meetings before they happen. You replay conversations that ended hours ago. You over-explain, or go quiet when you meant to speak up. Feedback lands harder than it should. Your boss's mood becomes your problem before they've said a word.
You've told yourself it's the job. The culture. The boss. And maybe some of that is true.
But the part that exhausts you most, the hypervigilance, the shame spiral, the need to be liked, the fear that one mistake will undo everything, that's not coming from work. A younger part of you has been driving the car for a long time. And it's tired.
This is not who you are. These are adaptations: responses you developed early, in environments where staying alert kept you safe. They worked then. They're running your adult life now, and it's what makes you exhausted.
The good news: adaptations can change. Not by forcing them away, they're trying to protect you, and they deserve to be heard. But by learning to recognize them, understand them, and gently take back the wheel.