Reading other people's emotions well is a real strength — until it isn't held by anything. Attunement without the capacity to stay separate curdles into two failures that look like care and aren't: taking on what isn't yours, and softening the truth to keep the peace.

Emotional attunement gets tr...

Pleasing others and over-relying on an expert are the same move — trading agency for safety. The tell is whether the support builds your capacity or replaces it.

People-pleasing is usually filed under "being nice." It's neither a personality quirk nor a surplus of kindness. It's a relational strate...