The scariest changes are usually the silent changes that creep up on you so slowly you hardly notice them at all.
Short fuse
You’re increasingly impatient with others. Where you used to politely wait or sympathize with someone, you now tune them out or interrupt them.
It’s like having your own personal countdown timer in your head that makes you crazy whenever someone takes too long or makes mistakes.
Silent retreat
You avoid conflict like it’s your job. Arguments and disagreements aren’t worth your time and energy, so you tend to either avoid the conversation or ghost instead of dealing with the problem head-on.
Avoiding conflict may save you from dealing with hard conversations, but it creates distance and resentment in the long run.
Dark forecast
Expecting the worst has become your new norm. Instead of waiting for all of the information, you automatically jump to the conclusion that something bad happened.
Someone doesn’t reply to your text? They must be ignoring you. Your friends cancel your plans? They are probably talking behind your back. Your pessimism keeps you protected, but it ruins things that are truly innocent.
Constant gripe
Instead of looking at your day and appreciating everything that went right, you notice everything that went wrong. You’d much rather tell someone about the crappy traffic you had to sit in, or the terrible weather you dealt with.
Griping has become second nature, and you love having someone to complain with, but you never look past the negatives.
Steel walls
You are emotionally strong and have incredible walls. You give shallow conversation and courteous smiles, but no longer allow anyone to see the raw and messy parts of your heart, and you find yourself lonely even when surrounded by people.
Quick verdict
It takes you seconds to decide whether you like someone or not. You have created mental categories of types of people, and file them away without listening to them finish speaking.
While you feel more powerful for being able to size people up so quickly, you’re shutting out people who could have surprised you.
Opiniated
The word “maybe” no longer exists in your vocabulary. You have been around long enough that you have decided how things should be done, whether it’s your career or how to properly load a dishwasher.
It gives you comfort to know there is a right way, but it’s also made you close-minded and less flexible with others.
Old shadows
You tend to punish new acquaintances for wrongs old ones did. The reminders of broken trust or failed expectations have you scanning current relationships for exit signs that don’t exist.
Living like this is exhausting, always waiting for someone to fail you the way someone else did.
Digital tether
Your phone is now a security blanket. Filling your downtime (you used to think about stuff during this time) with memes and Twitter scrolling has become a bodily need.
It’s a pacifier for the real world and keeps you plugged into technology as you slowly disconnect from reality.
Guarded ego
Feedback, even constructive criticism, feels like an attack on your ego and you immediately feel the need to defend yourself. You spend more time explaining away your failures and blaming others than you do learning how to do better. You become someone that no one wants to help.
Lone island
When life gets overwhelming, you tend to internalize and withdraw from those around you.
By not speaking up about what you need or asking for help, you make what could be normal stress into a lonely experience, leaving your loved ones confused.
Faded wonder
Questions like why or how things work around you don’t seem to faze you anymore. You’re no longer curious, take things as they are, and simply accept your reality.
There’s no use trying to look behind the curtain because you figure you know enough.
Safe harbor
You take the easy road every day: the easy job, the comfortable couch, the predictable friend, etc., rather than things that challenge you. Comfort overcomes the growing pains of moving forward.
Fear’s grip
“What-ifs” have become your life’s master builder, and you find yourself saying no to opportunities before giving yourself the chance to consider them.
You live so afraid of failing that you’ve built a silent and safe life full of regret.
Broken promises
You’ve gradually become that which you swore you’d never become. You looked at people who were judgmental, indifferent, and egotistical and scoffed. Now you find yourself in that position, staring back at you in the mirror.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.