Ever feel like you constantly change identities throughout the day? You’re the parent. You’re the spouse. You’re the leader who pretends everything is together at the office despite the depressed teenager at home who won’t speak to you or no sex for months with your spouse.

Are you a secret chameleon? It all slowly builds up.

The wildly famous lizard - A Chameleon – changes its skin color in response to its environment. An incredible useful tool to communicate, regulate its temperature, respond to threats and interact with its surroundings. This is simple adaption. Yet humans do not operate this way.

For neurodivergent leaders, adaptability is so practiced that it becomes effortless from the outside. You easily read the room. You anticipate what others need. You change your communication style. You modify your pace. You translate your thinking. You absorb ambiguity and compensate for the gaps. This happens in seconds.

Your adaptation almost becomes flow state, it’s so natural you create the illusion that its authentic. You think it’s a secret gift until the overwhelm, exhaustion and burnout rip a wound so deep the scar is left for years.

Adaptability can hide incompatibility. Chameleons only adjust when necessary. Humans, on the other hand, take it to the extremes.  Just because you have the range to adapt does not mean you become something else in order to function inside of it. Over adapting becomes a hindrance, not a functional mode to operate in. Your ability to adapt can make the mismatch of values and environment harder to see.

Being adaptable doesn’t make every environment a good fit. A fish does not belong in the dessert. When we stay true and integrity with our values and character, a new environment emerges.

Ask: How much of yourself are you continually adjusting to make the environment work?

Over-adapting becomes the camouflage of imbalance. When you stand in your values the right environment emerges.

Wishing you a wonderful, joyful, and prosperous day!

Lora Lapiz

Blindspot Advisor

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