Things to remember (or, what is identity anyway?)

Sometimes I want to cry, and curl up on someone's shoulder, evoke sympathy, receive comfort, be a child again.

• But I am a man: 40 years old.
• I am a father (of 3 boys now).
• And I am a husband.

• I have my health (for the most part).
• I will not go hungry (nor will my family).
• I can cook a marvelous feast from whatever is at hand.

• I am capable.
• I am committed.
• I am industrious.
• I am self-reliant.

• I am not alone.

I need to remember that none of this, none of the important things in life, is about proving anything to anyone.

• My PhD was not earned so I could be called "Doctor".
• Indeed, it was not in particular to become a professor.
• It was an exercise to pursue my own path, to ask the questions that kept me awake at nights.
  
• It is not failure to walk away from the world of academia.
• It is a choice, motivated by my reading of the world in which I live, and my desire to create a different one.

• I need to remember that pursuing my current interests, attempting to build a research firm, seeking to file patents, are simply a path.
• I control my work, and my efforts.
• I have no control over how they are received.
• I do these things not to prove myself worthy.
• I am worthy.

• There is nothing to fear in pursuit.
• As my father taught me: We get to choose if we will be good; only history can choose if we will be great.
• It is enough to be good.