Learning to mask as a kid

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:00]dreading reading aloud in class, and that thought of when it was coming up to your turn. We had to all read a bit of the Shakespeare play, and then you just sit there the whole lesson. I can't concentrate on anything that's going on cuz I know it's my turn. And before I'd even start reading, I could hear the snickers of other children because they knew I wasn't going to be able to do it.

[00:00:17]Um and I would say weird things. And that is just one example of of many things I'm dyslexic as well as dyslexic and probably ADHD in there, too. Um so, you know, anything to do with spelling, reading aloud. Um and then in PE cuz I was, you know, pretty I'm pretty rubbish at anything to do with sport. When we paired up to do things like tennis, not even my friends wanted to be partners with me cuz I was so bad.

[00:00:39]And I think for me, the way I cope with that was to shrink and just try and almost pretend I wasn't there so that nobody would notice. That did go through into my adulthood, as well. It's very much kind of that masking, that kind of stereotypical pretending to be who you aren't, trying to hide all of that stuff that you think might get judged. And that's really hard, isn't it, on your on your well-being? If you can't be your authentic self, and you can't get that belonging, and your your connections you make with people are just superficial because you're not being you.