Definition: The act of forcibly maintaining a pleasant, agreeable facade while internally seething during minor conflicts or boundary violations, especially to avoid seeming difficult or causing momentary discomfort. It’s biting your tongue with a grin, swallowing frustrations to keep the artificial peace smooth.
This constant internal friction wears down emotional resilience like grinding teeth. Eventually, the [suppressed tension] erupts as [disproportionate anger] over something trivial or manifests as deep-seated resentment towards people who never realized they were crossing lines you silently polished away. It’s [people-pleasing with hidden cracks].
Example: She smiled brightly and agreed to cover her colleague’s shift *again*, while internally fuming about the constant last-minute requests.
He finally snapped over the toothpaste cap, yelling for ten minutes about disrespect after silently enduring years of minor boundary crossings.