Every person you meet experiences a version of you that you will never directly experience.

Everyone you know carries a slightly different you, assembled from the moments they happened to see, filtered through their own history and mood. Some of those versions are more generous than your own, some less, and none of them is available to you for inspection or correction.

This is worth remembering both ways. When you worry about what someone thinks, you are guessing at something you cannot see. And when you form a firm view of another person, remember you are holding one version too. Hold both a little more loosely than feels natural.