When you’re feeling like the best version of yourself, are you masking less?

The other day, I spoke with a friend about how eating healthy and exercising impacts our ADHD.

She told me that when she's in a low period and struggling to take care of herself, she won't keep up with proper nutrition and workouts, which impacts her mental health and ADHD symptoms. This ends up affecting all areas of her life.

When she's on track with her healthy habits, she has more energy to connect with people she cares about. Feels more positive, energetic, and open to new experiences.

When I asked why, she realized that when she's in a low period, she's masking more, so it takes more effort to maintain social niceties, making the experience more draining overall.

On the other hand, when she's doing well and on a kind of 'high,' she's more confident. She can let that mask fall off because she's happier with who she is and feels comfortable sharing that with people.

I found this to be a mind-blowing realization because I feel the same way but could never articulate it.

I've struggled with yo-yo dieting and binge eating in the past. It would make me not want to socialize, but it wasn't ONLY due to a lack of self-confidence in my appearance - it was more so for the reasons explained above.

I find this all so interesting, and I'm curious to know if anyone else has noticed a correlation between healthy habits and masking, or is it just my friend and I?