It’s easy to be seen when you know what to show. You learn that early. What makes people comfortable. What keeps things smooth. What gets you through a room without friction. You adjust. You become someone people understand quickly. Competent and easy to work with. People respond to that version of you. They like her, trust her and don’t ask much more of her. That’s the part that can go unnoticed. Being seen is not the same as being known.
Being seen is recognition.
Being known requires something else.
It requires letting someone stay long enough to notice what you don’t say. I t requires not managing every impression. Not correcting every assumption or stepping in to make things easier to understand. And that’s harder. Because once someone sees beyond what you’ve decided to show, you lose some control over how you’re held. And control, for a long time, kept everything steady. So you stay where it’s manageable. Where you can be seen. Where you don’t have to risk being known.—Kitt