You can escape somebody’s influence physically while continuing every behavior their influence created.

Leaving does not uninstall the adaptations. You can be years and miles away from a person and still be scanning for their mood in other people’s faces, still apologizing preemptively, still unable to want things out loud. The behaviors were sensible where they formed and continue running in a place where they are no longer needed and often cost you.

Look for the habits you developed to manage someone who is no longer in your life. Name one and try the opposite in a low-risk setting. The distance was necessary and it was only the first part; the second part happens in the ordinary situations that still trigger the old pattern.