The Thing I Never Lost

What if your worth has never actually changed?In this episode of Understanding Yourself, I explore the difference between our worth as human beings and the societal worth we spend so much of our lives trying to increase.This isn’t really an episode about self-esteem. It’s about experience.It’s about what I began learning during some of the most difficult periods of my life, including an afternoon early in recovery when a man I barely knew sat beside me for more than twenty minutes without trying to understand me, fix me, or give me an answer. He simply stayed.Over time, experiences like that began changing something I had understood intellectually but had never fully internalized. Failure did not decrease my worth. Success did not increase it. My worth as a human being had been there all along.And strangely, when I stopped trying to prove my worth and began focusing on the unconditional worth I share with every other human being, I became more useful to the people around me.In this episode:* Why difficult feelings can be invitations to pay attention and learn* What one afternoon early in recovery taught me about simply being present with another person* The difference between human worth and societal worth* Why failure does not decrease our worth and success does not increase it* How recognizing our own worth can make us more useful to our families, workplaces, and communities* The question I continue asking when life doesn’t go the way I hoped: “What do I need to learn?”Understanding Yourself is a collection of stories, ideas, and conversations designed to help us better understand ourselves and maybe experience life a little differently.Written and narrated by Ben Lemmon. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit benjaminlemmon.substack.com