Not only is that not true, but maybe there's an alternative narrative. Something like, “I'm a person of worth and value, and there's a seat at the table for me, and I'm allowed to take up some space. I'm allowed to have a voice and to show up as I am.” Not based on my accomplishments or my accolades or my productivity or my appearance or the size of my body or the state of my bank account, my relationship status, my ability to play sports or to cook a good meal or to have a beautifully decorated home or really, really nice clothes. None of that is related to that inherent worthiness. It is a given. It is a non negotiable in a world that maybe doesn't tell us that. And so we have to work to cultivate that for ourselves.

And a lot of our life is like this. We look for the negative. We look for what's not going well, what hurts us, what pains us. And while it is important to name those things and to make space for those things, we don't want to fixate our gaze, in a sense, in our minds, only on those things without grounding ourselves in the wider narrative so that we also take in what we're thankful for, what we're grateful for, noticing often through the lens of small things, the things that sustain us, the things that bring delight, the places in our life where we can say, “I have enough and it is good, and thank you, and I'm grateful.”