Psychology says people who feel like they've been living someone else's life aren't confused or ungrateful - they're often the ones who were so good at adapting in childhood that they never stopped adapting long enough to find out who they actually were - Silicon Canals

"When you spend your formative years shape-shifting to meet everyone else's needs, you never develop your own shape. Adaptability in its most basic form is 'the ability to adjust to different conditions.' But what happens when that adjustment becomes your entire identity?"

"You end up in your thirties, forties, or beyond, successful by every external measure but feeling like a stranger in your own skin. There's actually a clinical term for the extreme version of what many of us experience: depersonalization-derealization disorder."

"That feeling of disconnection? That sense of watching your life from the outside? That's surprisingly common among those who have adapted too well to others' expectations."

Many individuals feel a sense of disconnection despite achieving societal success. This often stems from childhood experiences where adaptability became a survival mechanism. As children, they learned to shape-shift to meet others' expectations, leading to a lack of personal identity. This phenomenon can result in feelings of being a stranger in one's own life. While not everyone experiences a clinical disorder, many feel a sense of detachment from their emotions and surroundings, highlighting the psychological impact of early adaptability.

Read at Silicon Canals