Shoulders back isn’t about looking tough. It’s telling your own brain you’re done hiding.

Posture works inward before it works outward. How you hold yourself is partly a message to your own system about whether you are under threat, and a folded shape keeps reporting that something is wrong even when nothing is. Straightening up is not a performance for the room. It is changing one of the inputs your brain is reading.

Next time you notice you have curled in, take a breath and open up before you decide anything about how you feel. It is a small physical adjustment. Give it thirty seconds before judging the effect.