@Zumbador@stahldame@actuallyautistic I happen to come across a similar analogy to a creator I heard describe masking and unmasking. They described it as (hesvily reductionist paraphrasing begins) "Masking is like being one of those beds compressed into a box. When you pull it out it gets space to expand and "grow". Once it's out of the box, it's very difficult to put it back in the box. But just like the bed, you won't get any rest if it stays in the box".