You get to observe without being observed. You get to do things without anyone watching to see if you'll fail. There's a kind of freedom in being underestimated that I never appreciated until now.

People with high expectations of me would have opinions about my choices. They'd want to steer me toward what they think is right. They'd have expectations about my trajectory. But people who underestimate me? They just let me be. They don't try to fix me or guide me or tell me what I should be doing. 🌫️

I've learned to use this to my advantage. I move through the world quietly, making my own decisions, living my own life, without anyone trying to interfere. The people who underestimated me thought they were limiting me, but they were actually liberating me. They were giving me the space to become whoever I wanted to become without their judgment or interference.

It took me a while to see this shift. I used to think I wanted recognition, wanted people to see my value, wanted to be taken seriously. But now I'm realizing that their lack of expectation is actually the best thing that could have happened to me. It's freed me from the burden of performing for their approval.

So I let them underestimate. I let them think I'm less than I am. I let them make their assumptions. And while they're busy not seeing me, I'm busy building something real. Something true. Something that's entirely mine because nobody was watching closely enough to try to take it away.