The risk is in equating what we do with who we are. In thinking that significant work is a measure of our significance. And if our work feels insignificant, that we ourselves are perhaps insignificant.

But we are not our titles. We are not our metrics. We are not our résumés.

* * *

We begin by recognizing our own intrinsic value. Our resilience. Our ability to learn and to contribute. Our ability to make change happen.

If we choose to, we can engage with interesting problems and meaningful work.

If we choose to.

But first, we have to pick ourselves. We have to trust ourselves.

We are people of consequence — and the work we do can be of consequence too.