This limitation comes from always feeling like I had to perform because others could not handle all of who I was. I learned to present the version of me that felt easier to receive, but performance is not the same as connection. Now I understand that being authentic does not guarantee someone will stay, it reveals whether the connection is truly aligned. If someone leaves after knowing the real me, that is not proof that I was too much. It is a revelation that the connection did not have the capacity to hold me.