It's The ADHD-Friendly Show | Personal Growth, Well-being and Productivity for Distractible Minds ADHD masking - do you even know when you're doing it?
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Mar 6, 2026 A deep dive into hiding parts of yourself to fit in and how that can become automatic. Stories about stepping back from work and experimenting with authenticity. A clear contrast between adapting by choice and masking out of fear. Practical prompts to audit relationships and identify your real needs.
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Masking Can Erase Your Sense Of Self
- Masking erodes self-knowledge when it becomes constant and without breaks.
- Karen McGill explains decades of masking made her forget who was underneath the performance, even at home.
Retirement Gave Permission To Unmask
- Retirement shifted Karen McGill's relationship to work from survival to choice, letting her experiment with unmasking.
- At 55 she used therapy and journaling to practice showing up as herself and accept potential rejection.
Ask If You're Choosing To Adapt Or Being Forced To Mask
- Distinguish adapting from masking by asking whether your behavior feels like a choice or a survival tactic.
- Use Carolyn McGuire's adapting versus masking frame to decide when to temporarily adjust versus when you're erasing needs.
