Origins
From palimpsest, an old manuscript page written over while traces of earlier writing remain, refashioned into a self-word.
Meaning
Palimpself is the sense that we are being rewritten from the inside.
The person who organized life around addiction is still faintly there in reflexes and instincts, but no longer in command. We start noticing new priorities forming, new meanings, new ways of spending time that are not built around escape.
The shift is quiet and steady. We become someone else without a dramatic moment to point to.
Usage
Palimpself is noticing identity shifting in sobriety, as the old addiction-centered self fades and a new self forms through daily living.