A short reflection on this illustration:
My self worth has been wrapped up in my achievements and “success” since I was a little girl. I was pretty academic so I think this idea of achievement equalling worthiness soon cemented in my brain.
This is all well and good if you do pretty well at school - but then adulthood hits and so does reality. And it’s a big, nasty shock. Because that’s not how being an adult works. We’re not in a classroom with a set answer to every question life throws at us. And it’s much more of a rollercoaster ride that we have to get used to riding.
I still thrive off “achievements”, things going well or milestones. And I still think it’s really important to celebrate them too. I just have to be really careful now that I don’t tie my sense of worthiness up in that. Because even if a to do list isn’t being ticked and your bank account isn’t looking healthy, the internal stuff that makes you a valuable human being still exists. And that’s what makes you YOU - the person that you should be proud of everyday. At the top and bottom of the rollercoaster.
You can find this illustration available as a print here.