I’ll never forget the conversation with my therapist that changed how I understood myself. We were discussing why I avoided certain social situations, and I casually mentioned, “Well, I’m just an introvert.” She paused, looked at me directly, and said something that hit like a freight train: “Keith, some of what you’re describing isn’t introversion. It’s trauma response.”
Introversion and trauma responses often look identical from the outside, creating confusion that can last for years. Introverts need to recharge through solitude and process internally, while trauma survivors develop protective behaviors that mimic these same patterns. The difference lies in the underlying mechanism: introversion energizes you through quiet reflection, while trauma makes you avoid situations because your nervous system learned they’re dangerous, even when they’re objectively safe.
That moment terrified me. For years, I’d used my introversion as an explanation for everything. Avoiding phone calls? Introversion. Canceling plans at the last minute? Introversion. Feeling physically ill at the thought of networking events? Just my introverted nature, right?
Wrong. At least, not entirely.
Through years of working in high-pressure marketing and advertising environments, I’d accumulated trauma responses that looked remarkably similar to introversion. The constant overstimulation, the pressure to perform in social situations that felt fundamentally wrong for my nature, the accumulation of small moments where I felt unsafe being my authentic self. All of it had created patterns that went beyond normal introvert behavior.
This article is part of our Introvert Mental Health Hub, explore the full guide with many wonderful resources available.
Why Do Introversion and Trauma Look Identical?
Introversion is a natural personality trait characterized by how you process energy and information. Trauma, on the other hand, is an emotional and psychological response to deeply distressing experiences that fundamentally alter how you interact with the world.
The challenge is that both can manifest as withdrawal, social selectivity, and preference for solitude. But the underlying mechanisms are completely different. Introversion energizes you through quiet reflection. Trauma makes you avoid situations because your nervous system learned they’re dangerous, even when they’re objectively safe.
Psychology Today explores this critical distinction, explaining that while personality encompasses consistent, long-term patterns shaped by genetics and biology, trauma-coping strategies are behaviors developed in response to traumatic events that were adaptive during the trauma but often become maladaptive in present-day contexts.
I spent the first five years of my agency career exhausted, attributing everything to being an introvert in an extroverted field. Looking back now, I can see that some of that exhaustion came from unprocessed trauma responses I’d been carrying without even realizing it. The constant pressure to be someone I wasn’t had created genuine trauma patterns that needed specific attention.
A longitudinal study published in the National Institutes of Health found that trauma exposure significantly affects personality development, particularly increasing neuroticism and creating instrumental trait processes where individuals reporting trauma showed higher levels of specific personality-related problems in adulthood.
Which Behaviors Signal Trauma vs Introversion?
The patterns below are things that often get labeled as introversion but actually signal unhealed trauma. If you recognize yourself in several of these, it doesn’t mean you’re broken. It means you might benefit from addressing trauma alongside embracing your authentic introvert nature. For comprehensive guidance on trauma healing strategies specific to introverts, understanding these distinctions becomes the foundation for recovery.
Key Behavioral Differences
- Healthy introvert patterns: Choosing solitude for energy restoration, strategic social engagement, thoughtful communication, and manageable overwhelm that resolves with rest
- Trauma response patterns: Avoiding situations from fear, physical symptoms of panic, involuntary shutdown responses, and persistent anxiety that doesn’t resolve with rest alone
- Energy source differences: Introverts feel recharged by solitude and drained by excessive socializing, while trauma survivors feel unsafe in social situations regardless of energy levels
- Recovery patterns: Introvert fatigue responds to rest and solitude, trauma exhaustion requires nervous system regulation and often professional support
- Choice vs compulsion: Introverts make conscious decisions about social engagement, trauma survivors experience involuntary avoidance driven by nervous system activation
What Are the 24 Warning Signs?
1. Canceling Plans Due to Panic, Not Energy
What It Looks Like: You cancel social plans at the last minute, citing exhaustion or needing alone time.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts do need to manage their social energy and sometimes decline invitations to recharge.
The Trauma Connection: When cancellations are driven by physical panic symptoms (racing heart, nausea, overwhelming dread) rather than genuine energy assessment, trauma is likely involved. I used to cancel client dinners not because I needed recharging, but because my body went into fight-or-flight mode at the thought of sitting through a meal where I felt I had to perform.
The Real Distinction: Healthy introvert cancellations feel like relief and self-care. Trauma-driven cancellations feel like escaping danger, often followed by shame and self-criticism.
2. Avoiding Phone Calls Due to Fear of Judgment
What It Looks Like: You let calls go to voicemail and respond via text instead.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts often prefer written communication for its allowance of processing time.
The Trauma Connection: When phone avoidance is accompanied by catastrophic thinking about what the person might say or how you’ll be judged, that’s anxiety from past experiences where your words were weaponized against you. I would literally stare at my phone vibrating, heart pounding, imagining all the ways the conversation could go wrong. Understanding stress identification and relief techniques helps distinguish between introvert preference for written communication and trauma-based phone anxiety.
The Real Distinction: Introverts prefer texts for efficiency and thoughtfulness. Trauma survivors avoid calls because their nervous system associates unexpected verbal interaction with threat.
3. Needing Excessive Preparation for Normal Interactions
What It Looks Like: You rehearse conversations extensively before meetings, calls, or social events.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts do prefer to think before speaking and often mentally prepare for interactions.
The Trauma Connection: When preparation crosses into hours of rehearsing exact phrases, anticipating every possible response, and creating backup plans for social scenarios, that’s hypervigilance from trauma. During my second year at an agency, I would spend entire evenings preparing for five-minute check-in meetings with my boss.
The Real Distinction: Introvert preparation helps you gather thoughts and feel confident. Trauma preparation is an attempt to control an interaction your nervous system perceives as threatening.
4. Feeling Physically Ill Before Social Events
What It Looks Like: You experience nausea, headaches, or stomach issues before gatherings.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts can feel drained by the anticipation of social energy expenditure.
The Trauma Connection: Physical illness symptoms (not just fatigue) indicate your body is in stress response. Your nervous system learned that social situations are dangerous, triggering actual physiological fight-or-flight reactions. I once vomited before a networking event because my body was so convinced something bad would happen.
The Real Distinction: Introvert pre-event feelings are mental (recognizing energy will be spent). Trauma pre-event feelings are physical (body preparing for threat).
5. Isolating After Minor Social Mistakes
What It Looks Like: After saying something awkward, you withdraw from social contact for days or weeks.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts need recovery time after intense social interaction.
The Trauma Connection: When isolation is driven by shame spirals and replaying the “mistake” obsessively, that’s trauma response. Normal awkwardness becomes proof of fundamental unworthiness, triggering withdrawal as protection from further judgment. I once avoided an entire project team for two weeks after mispronouncing a client’s name.
The Real Distinction: Introverts recharge and return to social engagement refreshed. Trauma survivors hide and ruminate, extending isolation beyond what’s restorative.
6. Losing Your Voice in Group Settings
What It Looks Like: In groups, you become completely silent, unable to contribute even when you have thoughts.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts often observe before speaking and prefer listening to talking.
The Trauma Connection: When silence is accompanied by throat tightness, mind going blank, or feeling like you’re frozen, that’s a trauma response called hypoarousal. Your nervous system shuts down verbal communication as protection. Healthline’s examination of trauma responses reveals that the freeze response involves physical immobility where the prefrontal cortex goes offline, making verbal communication involuntarily impossible. I’ve sat through entire strategy meetings with brilliant ideas locked inside my head, physically unable to make words come out.
The Real Distinction: Introverts choose strategic silence. Trauma survivors experience involuntary shutdown.
Physical and Emotional Indicators
- Body symptoms: Nausea, racing heart, throat tightness, or stomach pain before social events signal trauma response rather than introvert energy concerns
- Freeze responses: Inability to speak, move, or think clearly in social situations indicates nervous system shutdown beyond normal introvert processing
- Shame spirals: Obsessive replaying of social interactions with self-criticism patterns point to trauma rather than healthy introvert reflection
- Recovery patterns: Needing days to recover from minor social situations suggests trauma exhaustion rather than normal introvert recharging
- Physical isolation needs: Requiring complete solitude to feel safe differs from introvert preference for quiet environments
7. Avoiding Eye Contact From Shame, Not Processing Style
What It Looks Like: You avoid eye contact during conversations, especially when discussing yourself.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts sometimes find extended eye contact draining or prefer to look away while processing thoughts.
The Trauma Connection: When eye contact avoidance stems from feeling you’ll be “seen” as inadequate or judged, that’s shame from trauma. It’s not about processing comfort but about hiding from perceived scrutiny. I realized I literally could not look my boss in the eye when receiving praise because part of me believed I didn’t deserve recognition.
The Real Distinction: Introverts manage eye contact based on cognitive load. Trauma survivors avoid it to manage shame and fear of exposure.
8. Needing to Know All Details in Advance
What It Looks Like: You require comprehensive information about social plans (who’s attending, exact timing, venue layout) before agreeing.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts like having information to mentally prepare for social energy expenditure.
The Trauma Connection: When not knowing details triggers anxiety so severe you can’t commit to plans, that’s hypervigilance from trauma. Your nervous system needs environmental control to feel safe. I once declined a team dinner because I couldn’t get a seating chart showing exactly where I’d sit.
The Real Distinction: Introverts appreciate advance information. Trauma survivors require it to function.
9. Apologizing Excessively for Normal Behavior
What It Looks Like: You apologize for taking up space, speaking, needing things, or simply existing in social situations.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts can be thoughtful about their impact on others.
The Trauma Connection: Compulsive apologizing signals you learned that your presence is inherently problematic. This comes from environments where you were made to feel your needs were burdensome. I apologized to colleagues for asking clarifying questions in meetings, as if requiring information was an imposition.
The Real Distinction: Introverts consider their impact thoughtfully. Trauma survivors apologize reflexively out of learned unworthiness.
10. Feeling Safer with Strangers Than Friends
What It Looks Like: You’re more comfortable with surface interactions with strangers than deeper connections with people who know you.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts often find depth more draining than brief encounters.
The Trauma Connection: When intimacy feels more threatening than anonymity, that’s an attachment wound from trauma. Deep connection means vulnerability, and vulnerability means risk of rejection or harm. I could deliver presentations to hundreds of strangers but felt physically unsafe in one-on-one coffee meetings with colleagues who wanted to get to know me.
The Real Distinction: Introverts find depth energizing with the right people. Trauma survivors fear the exposure that intimacy requires.
11. Constantly Scanning for Social Threats
What It Looks Like: In social settings, you’re hyper-aware of everyone’s mood, tone changes, and possible signs of disapproval.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts are often observant and pick up on social nuances.
The Trauma Connection: When observation crosses into constant threat scanning (monitoring for danger rather than connection), that’s hypervigilance from trauma. Your nervous system learned that missing social cues could lead to emotional or psychological harm. Experts at Choosing Therapy explain that hypervigilance is a symptom of dysregulated nervous systems that become accustomed to high stress, manifesting as an inability to feel safe and secure in your environment. I spent entire networking events analyzing body language for signs someone was annoyed with me rather than actually networking.
The Real Distinction: Introverts observe for understanding. Trauma survivors scan for survival.
12. Believing You’re “Too Much” or “Not Enough”
What It Looks Like: You simultaneously believe you’re overwhelming to others and inadequate in social situations.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts might question whether they’re meeting extroverted social standards.
The Trauma Connection: This specific double-bind belief (too much AND not enough) comes from childhood or relationship experiences where you couldn’t win regardless of behavior. It’s not about introvert identity but about internalized messages that you’re fundamentally wrong. I believed my quiet nature made me “not enough” while also thinking any emotion I showed was “too much.”
The Real Distinction: Introverts recognize differences from extroverts without shame. Trauma survivors carry internalized beliefs about fundamental wrongness.
13. Avoiding Success or Visibility
What It Looks Like: You decline opportunities, downplay achievements, or actively avoid situations where you’d be recognized.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts can be uncomfortable with public attention.
The Trauma Connection: When success avoidance is driven by fear of being “found out” or belief that visibility equals vulnerability to attack, that’s trauma from environments where achievement led to punishment (through jealousy, increased expectations, or being torn down). I turned down a promotion partly because being more visible felt genuinely dangerous.
The Real Distinction: Introverts manage visibility preferences. Trauma survivors avoid it from fear of exposure or harm.
14. Feeling Guilty for Setting Boundaries
What It Looks Like: After declining invitations or requesting alone time, you experience crushing guilt and worry about others’ reactions.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts might initially feel uncertain about boundary-setting in extrovert-dominated culture.
The Trauma Connection: When guilt is persistent and accompanied by fear of abandonment or retaliation, that’s trauma from relationships where boundaries were punished. Your nervous system learned that protecting yourself leads to rejection. I felt physically ill with guilt every time I left a work event early, even when I’d communicated my departure plan in advance.
The Real Distinction: Introverts might feel momentary concern about boundaries but trust they’re valid. Trauma survivors experience ongoing guilt and fear consequences.
Control and Safety Patterns
- Environmental control needs: Requiring specific seating, lighting, or exit access beyond normal introvert preferences indicates trauma-based hypervigilance
- Information requirements: Needing exhaustive details about social events to function versus introvert preference for preparation
- Safety scanning: Constantly monitoring others’ moods and reactions for threats rather than healthy social awareness
- Boundary guilt: Experiencing physical symptoms when setting limits suggests trauma conditioning rather than normal social consideration
- Success avoidance: Declining opportunities from fear of exposure differs from introvert preference for behind-the-scenes contributions
15. Only Feeling Safe in Total Control
What It Looks Like: You only relax in situations where you control the environment, timing, people present, and exit options.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts appreciate environments they can modulate for optimal energy.
The Trauma Connection: Requiring absolute control to feel any level of safety is hypervigilance from trauma. Your nervous system learned that loss of control equals danger. I only agreed to client meetings at my office where I controlled every variable, interpreting any change in plans as a threat.
The Real Distinction: Introverts prefer control for optimization. Trauma survivors require it for basic safety feelings.
16. Replaying Conversations for Days
What It Looks Like: After social interactions, you obsessively replay everything you said, analyzing for mistakes or signs of judgment.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts do process social interactions internally afterward.
The Trauma Connection: When processing becomes rumination (repeating the same thoughts without resolution, focusing on worst-case interpretations, unable to stop despite trying), that’s trauma-based anxiety. Normal processing leads to insight. Rumination leads to distress. I’ve lost entire nights of sleep replaying a two-minute conversation, convinced I’d ruined a professional relationship.
The Real Distinction: Introvert processing brings clarity and closure. Trauma rumination intensifies anxiety without resolution.
17. Feeling Like You’re Acting in Social Situations
What It Looks Like: You feel like you’re performing a role or wearing a mask in social settings rather than being yourself.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts might code-switch between professional and personal contexts.
The Trauma Connection: When the “mask” feels like survival rather than context-appropriate adaptation, and when you’ve lost connection to who you actually are beneath it, that’s trauma response. You learned that your authentic self wasn’t acceptable or safe to show. I spent years genuinely not knowing which version of me was real because I’d been performing safety for so long.
The Real Distinction: Introverts adapt presentation while maintaining core self. Trauma survivors dissociate from authentic identity for protection.
18. Experiencing Physical Shutdown Under Stress
What It Looks Like: When overwhelmed, you can’t move, speak, or make decisions. You literally freeze.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts might become quiet or withdraw under overstimulation.
The Trauma Connection: Physical freeze response (unable to move or speak, feeling disconnected from your body, time seeming to slow down) is a specific trauma reaction. Studies examining trauma freeze responses in PTSD show that this involuntary immobilization occurs when the nervous system perceives that neither fight nor flight are viable options. It’s your nervous system’s protective response. During one particularly intense client confrontation, I sat frozen for what felt like an hour but was probably 30 seconds, unable to respond or move.
The Real Distinction: Introverts feel tired or mentally foggy when overstimulated. Trauma freeze is involuntary physical immobilization.
19. Believing Others Are Always Disappointed
What It Looks Like: You assume people are disappointed in you even when they show satisfaction or approval.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts might worry about meeting social expectations.
The Trauma Connection: Persistent belief in others’ disappointment despite contradicting evidence comes from relationships where your efforts were never enough. It’s not about introvert social concerns but about internalized criticism from trauma. I interpreted my boss’s neutral expression during my promotion announcement as proof he thought I didn’t deserve it, despite him literally giving me a promotion.
The Real Distinction: Introverts might question social performance. Trauma survivors maintain fixed beliefs about inadequacy regardless of evidence.
20. Avoiding Conflict at All Costs
What It Looks Like: You agree to things you don’t want, suppress your needs, and avoid any form of disagreement.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts often prefer harmony and might be conflict-averse.
The Trauma Connection: When conflict avoidance extends to betraying your own needs and physical stress responses at the thought of disagreement, that’s fawning from trauma. You learned that conflict meant danger (emotional, physical, or relational). I agreed to take on projects I had no capacity for because saying no felt life-threateningly dangerous.
The Real Distinction: Introverts might prefer calm resolution. Trauma survivors sacrifice themselves to avoid any friction.
21. Feeling Exhausted from Positive Interactions
What It Looks Like: Even enjoyable social time leaves you completely depleted, requiring days to recover.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts do need to recharge after social interaction, even positive ones.
The Trauma Connection: When depletion is extreme and accompanied by physical symptoms (flu-like exhaustion, emotional numbness, sleep disruption), trauma’s hypervigilance might be operating beneath seemingly positive interactions. Your nervous system was on high alert even during “safe” socializing. Cornell University research demonstrates that introverts have fundamental differences in dopamine sensitivity, but trauma-based exhaustion goes beyond normal neurobiological patterns, creating disproportionate depletion due to background nervous system activation. I spent three days in bed after a genuinely lovely dinner with friends because my body had been in threat response the entire evening despite my conscious mind enjoying it.
The Real Distinction: Introvert social recovery is proportional to interaction intensity. Trauma depletion is disproportionate because of background nervous system activation.
22. Only Relaxing When Completely Alone
What It Looks Like: You can’t truly relax unless you’re entirely alone with no possibility of interaction.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts do recharge in solitude.
The Trauma Connection: When you can’t relax even with safe, trusted people, and your nervous system treats all human presence as potential threat, that’s hypervigilance from trauma. True rest requires complete isolation because your system never fully trusts safety with others present. I couldn’t fully exhale until my partner left for work and I had the apartment entirely to myself.
The Real Distinction: Introverts recharge in solitude but can relax with trusted individuals. Trauma survivors can only reach baseline calm when completely alone.
23. Feeling Like You’re Always Disappointing People
What It Looks Like: You believe your introversion constantly lets others down and you’re failing to meet their expectations.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts might experience messaging that their nature is problematic.
The Trauma Connection: When this belief is persistent, accompanied by shame about your existence rather than specific behaviors, and doesn’t change despite positive feedback, that’s internalized trauma. You absorbed messages that who you are is fundamentally disappointing. I believed every person I interacted with walked away thinking less of me, regardless of what actually happened.
The Real Distinction: Introverts recognize external bias against their nature. Trauma survivors internalize it as personal failure.
24. Believing Vulnerability Equals Danger
What It Looks Like: You avoid sharing feelings, needs, or struggles, maintaining emotional distance even with close connections.
Why It Seems Like Introversion: Introverts might be selective about emotional sharing and process internally first.
The Trauma Connection: When vulnerability feels life-threateningly dangerous, when you physically cannot share feelings even when you want to, that’s trauma from experiences where emotional honesty led to harm (ridicule, rejection, weaponization of your feelings). I once literally lost the ability to speak when my therapist asked how I felt, my throat closed and I couldn’t make words come out because some part of me believed expressing emotion would lead to attack.
The Real Distinction: Introverts choose when and with whom to be vulnerable. Trauma survivors experience involuntary shutdown of emotional expression.
How Do You Start Healing Both?
If you recognized yourself in multiple items on this list, take a breath. This isn’t about diagnosing yourself or feeling broken. It’s about getting clarity on what you’re actually dealing with.
Here’s what I learned through my own journey: you can be a genuine introvert AND have trauma responses that need healing. They’re not mutually exclusive. In fact, many introverts develop trauma precisely because we’re introverts in environments that didn’t honor our nature. Understanding the medical distinctions between introversion and anxiety disorders clarifies which responses are personality traits to embrace and which are symptoms requiring treatment.
The years I spent in high-pressure agencies, constantly pushing past my limits, trying to be someone I wasn’t, created genuine trauma patterns. And recognizing that these patterns were trauma, not just “being introverted,” opened up possibilities for healing that honor both my authentic nature and my need for trauma recovery.
Finding Professional Support
First, find a therapist who understands both introversion and trauma. Not every mental health professional gets this distinction. I went through three therapists before finding one who didn’t try to “fix” my introversion while helping me address actual trauma responses. Navigating professional mental health support as an introvert requires finding providers who understand how introversion intersects with mental health challenges.
Second, educate yourself about trauma and the nervous system. Books like “The Body Keeps the Score” by Bessel van der Kolk helped me understand why my body reacted the way it did. Knowledge is power, especially when you’ve been confused about your own responses. Recognizing when professional help is needed becomes clearer when you understand the difference between introvert energy management and trauma-based avoidance.
Practical Recovery Steps
- Distinguish needs from fears: Ask whether behaviors recharge you or protect you from perceived danger. Authentic introvert needs feel nurturing, trauma responses feel compulsive.
- Practice nervous system regulation: Learn breathing techniques, grounding exercises, and somatic practices that help your body recognize safety in the present moment.
- Start with small exposures: Gradually challenge trauma-based avoidance while honoring genuine introvert limits. The goal is choice, not forcing yourself into discomfort.
- Build a support network: Find people who understand both introversion and trauma recovery. This might include therapists, support groups, or trusted friends.
- Honor both aspects: Healing trauma doesn’t mean becoming more extroverted. It means accessing your authentic introvert self without trauma interference.
Third, start distinguishing between your authentic introvert needs and trauma-driven behaviors. Ask yourself: Does this behavior recharge me or am I avoiding perceived danger? Would I still do this if I felt completely safe? Does this honor my nature or protect me from threat? For introverts dealing with both personality traits and anxiety symptoms, recovery strategies that honor both aspects make healing sustainable rather than forcing you to choose between addressing symptoms and accepting your nature.
Finally, be patient with yourself. Healing trauma while honoring introversion is a process, not a destination. Some days you’ll know exactly what’s what. Other days everything will blur together again. That’s normal. Keep going.
What Changes When You Heal?
The most important thing I learned through this process is that getting clarity on trauma versus introversion didn’t mean I had to change who I am. It meant I could become more fully myself.
Addressing trauma gave me back choices I didn’t realize I’d lost. I could decline social invitations because I genuinely needed recharge time, not because my nervous system convinced me the event was dangerous. I could set boundaries without crushing guilt. I could be alone without that alone time feeling like hiding. Navigating the complexities when both introversion and anxiety are present requires understanding that addressing trauma doesn’t mean changing your personality.
And here’s what surprised me most: as I healed trauma, my appreciation for my introversion deepened. I wasn’t using introversion as an excuse anymore. I was living it authentically.
If you’re struggling to tell the difference between your nature and your nervous system’s protective responses, you’re not alone. This confusion isn’t weakness or failure. It’s the natural result of living in a world that often doesn’t accommodate introvert needs, creating conditions where trauma can develop.
You deserve to honor your authentic introvert nature while healing whatever trauma you’re carrying. You don’t have to choose between them. You can have both: genuine self-acceptance and genuine healing.
Trust your inner experience. Seek clarity when you need it. And remember that understanding the difference between trauma and introversion isn’t about pathologizing yourself, it’s about giving yourself the specific kind of support and care you actually need.
This article is part of our Introvert Mental Health Hub , explore the full guide here.
About the Author
Keith Lacy is an introvert who’s learned to embrace his true self later in life. With a background in marketing and a successful career in media and advertising, Keith has worked with some of the world’s biggest brands. As a senior leader in the industry, he has built a wealth of knowledge in marketing strategy. Now, he’s on a mission to educate both introverts and extroverts about the power of introversion and how understanding this personality trait can unlock new levels of productivity, self-awareness, and success.
