I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my value. How do you measure something so obscure? I’m almost forty years old. I’ve already lived half my life according to what is considered average today in America. Half my life has gone by and what do I have to show for it? Should I be worried? Should I be happy?
If you consider value in terms of family, I am one lucky girl. I have been blessed with four beautiful children (and a granddaughter!), a supportive husband and great friends. The value of my personal relationships is astronomical! But if you take family out of the equation and look solely at things like owning a house, financial stability and career happiness, my value is questionable.
I’m very thankful to have a job and one that I perform to the best of my ability. I’ve met some wonderful people and made great friends because of my job. There are days, however, when I question how happy I am with the career path I’m on. Can I see myself doing this five years from now? Ten? Am I making a difference?
When it comes to financial stability and home ownership, boy, I’ve made countless mistakes. Apocalypse-level whoppers. I’ve let investments burn, savings dwindle and debt increase. I’ll admit, some of the mediating factors were beyond my control. But I still had plenty of opportunities to do better and failed. I’m self-aware, which is good, and I do beat myself up daily over some of the financial blunders I’ve made. The bottom line: my financial value is crap.
So I’m back to where I started. How do you measure your value?
While doing some research last night, I stumbled upon an amazing piece by life coach Morgana Rae. Her insight gave me the answer:
“The value of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but WHO WE ARE.”
She stresses that no matter what happens in our lives – good or bad – we never lose our value. She’s right.
I consider myself to be a trustworthy, hard-working, dedicated woman who had strong values instilled in me as a child. I’ve never been in serious trouble, had a drug or drinking problem or purposefully hurt anyone. The OCD aside, I feel pretty good about who I am. I maintain my values, never deviating from what I believe in and stand for.
With that said, in terms of who I am, I feel my value is immeasurable. And that’s a good thing.
How about you? How do you measure your value?
