Don’t confuse your self-worth with your value. Your self-worth is internal; it is part of you from the beginning. You are worthy because you are, not because of what you can do for others.

Your value is external. You can be valuable to some and not to others; it’s not really about you, it’s about what you mean to someone else. If you are a surgeon, and someone needs the kind of surgery you do, you can be quite valuable to them. However, if you do oral surgery, and someone needs a heart transplant, your value to them likely is not so much. This actually has no effect on your worthiness, just on your usefulness to someone else at one point.

It is wise to keep these straight. Thank you to a dear friend who reminded me of this.