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Nobody wants to feel like they're only valuable because of what they can provide

And sometimes you can genuinely do your best and still not meet someone's expectations

Which doesn't automatically mean you failed. Sometimes you're simply not the person who can give them what they want

I wish I'd understood that earlier because I spent too much time blaming myself.

We often measure ourselves by someone else's expectations without asking whether those expectations were even reasonable

Eventually, I accepted that I couldn't control how they judged my effort

That's a freeing realization. You can control how you show up, but you can't control whether someone chooses to appreciate it