I happened across the story of (the late) David Bowie and his invisible mask encounter. It was perhaps a little interesting, but...

When I was younger, and much thinner, I was sometimes told I resembled Bowie (if it was true at all, a shorter, much less flamboyant Bowie). But I guess that, while I might have resembled him in some superficial way, I am also not like how he was, at all.

I never made an invisible mask. I do have "circuit breakers" (my analogy for the process in my head which has (for as long as I can remember) disconnected some part of my sensory processing when things come in too fast, or with too great an intensity, or both, but certainly not a mask.

After some years, of going comparatively maskless, and learning, perhaps more than most, the things which may be learned as a consequence of that habit, other people began, apparently, putting invisible masks of their own invention over my face, I suppose, to avoid seeing more of me than they feel comfortable with.

About the circuit breakers- I have an electric kettle that I use for making tea. One day, years ago, I carelessly let it boil dry (normally, it stops automatically, when the steam inside reaches a heat sensor, but, because I left the lid unlatched, or started it without water, I can't remember which, now, that sensor did not function), and, at some point, it stopped heating. When I discovered the situation, I refilled the kettle, but, operating the power switch no longer caused it to heat. I supposed the heating element had burned out, or an internal fuse had melted, and I would have to repair or replace the kettle, or return to boiling water in a saucepan, but, the next day, I tried again, and, it worked perfectly. There must be a backup overheating sensor, probably in or near the heating element, which does not reset quickly. The reason I include this story is, if you have circuit breakers in your head, it is good to have the kind which automatically reset, even if they do not reset quickly.

Oh. And, in technology, at least, you can never have too many backups.