You are worthy of goodness.

You are worthy of respect and honor.

You are worthy of kindness.

Your worth is non-negotiable.

The incapacity of other people to honor your worth has nothing to do with who you are.

When I was a child, my caregiver told me that I should sleep outside with the animals because that was what I was worth.

In my first big-girl job, my boss told me I was lucky I got to work there any time I asked for more money or support.

I worked for him for 10 years. And in some ways he was a father figure.

The same day I was named to ’40 Under 40′ by our local Business Journal, he asked me if he would ever be proud of me.

After almost a decade of re-living some of my childhood traumas through him I
replied, “Well I don’t know, but if you were, I don’t think you would tell me.”

I still remember the moment I decided to leave that career. To re-organize myself out of the commercial real estate industry I had spent a decade learning.

I was a mother of two by that point. And the primary wage earner for my family. I didn’t have another job lined up. But I knew it was time to go.

I knew it was time to step out of the shadow of what my boss thought (or was willing to show) about my potential.

I knew that my vision for my life extended beyond his vision for me. And it was time to trust it. I reclaimed some of my power that day.

And I knew, without a doubt, that I would never let someone else have that much power to tell me who I was (or wasn’t) ever again.

Little did I know that the next call would be coming from inside the house …