NaibofTabr

"My sibling in Christ, if you truly respected my privacy you wouldn't need to ask for this."

My experience is that this struggle is mostly the result of anxiety over being disliked, and that anxiety can be reduced or removed by mental re-framing of the situation causing the anxiety. Re-framing is what I'm trying to express in my comment above.

Rather than getting stuck in the anxiety spiral over needing to wear the right mask, recognize that this entire concept is increasing the social separation between yourself and the other people, that the sensation of wearing a mask comes mostly from unfamiliarity with social behaviors (I don't know how to behave in this situation, so I have to try to fake it). The solution is not to wear a better mask, or to wear the mask better, but to recognize that the feeling of masking is being created by anxiety over not knowing what to do.

I'm not trying to say that it's easy, to say "just get over it". I'm saying that you can change your perspective on (and emotional reactions to) social interactions by changing the way you think about them, and with practice, and with exposure, and teach yourself over time that the anxiety is unwarranted.

The oligarchy doesn't like competition.

When you say "struggling" with masking, do you mean struggling with trying to wear the right mask, or with feeling like you're always wearing a mask?

Counterpoint: no person exists in a vacuum. Behaviors are an aspect of social interaction, and most are learned through observation (that is, your behavior is mostly the product of interacting with and in some ways mimicking or mirroring other people).

Your "self" adjusts to fit the social environment of the moment - this is socialization. For instance, you probably behave differently if you are alone with your parents, with your parents and your spouse, with your parents and your sibling(s), alone with your sibling(s), alone with your spouse, with your children and your spouse, or with the whole family, and probably all of those interactions are very different from those with your classmates or coworkers.

Changing behaviors with social context doesn't mean you are not being "your true self", it's just life.

I would also argue that there is no privacy and no private life without some aspects of the self remaining hidden at times.

Life is complicated, and you shouldn't worry too much about being "real", you should just enjoy the company of the people you are with in the time that you are with them. It goes by faster than you realize.

"Who you are" changes with context. For instance, you behave differently with your spouse than you do with your parents. There are things you would do and say with your spouse that you would not with your parents. Similarly if you are with a 4-year-old vs. with a coworker.

Behaving differently around different people doesn't mean you're being "fake", it's just an aspect of human social life.

The problem is "Opt-out means no housing".

Yeah this is a massive security risk. Even if the landlord doesn't intend anything malicious, I seriously doubt they're putting much effort into protecting that information. Juicy target for a ransomware gang.

Well training a horse for the battlefield usually involves exposing them to explosions and fires and generally the sights, sounds and smells of a military operation... it's possible to train a horse to stand still during an artillery barrage, but they're prey animals, their primary defense is running away from anything scary. Getting them to not panic and bolt goes against their entire evolutionary development. I kind of doubt anyone is putting the time and effort into training horses for that today.

Please wipe a verification ass.

Henry Cavill for The Witcher:

This schedule culminated in complete water restriction on the final two days, including the day of shooting the shirtless scenes. Cavill explained that the goal was to make his skin “sit on the muscles” for optimal visual impact, a tactic commonly used by fitness models for photo shoots.

[...]

Describing the ordeal on The Graham Norton Show, Cavill admitted the experience was intense and taxing. “By the last day, I could smell water nearby,” he joked, emphasizing just how miserable he felt. The extreme dehydration was so draining he dubbed himself “the most miserable person on the planet.”