...human trafficking.

Bear with me for a minute here.

This post is about self-worth, but not in the beautiful, happy, flowery, "we're all pricelessly unique" kind of way. I'm talking about money. How much am I worth? Not how much to I make or own or have access to. How much money am I worth? It's a difficult question because, yes, I am pricelessly unique, but I KNOW that, and that information isn't helping me form an idea of how much money I believe I deserve to make each year. I hit a wall when it comes to thinking about myself monetarily, and I'm taking a wrecking ball to that wall right now.

So, to make the question more palatable I'll change it up a bit. The new, and more effective question, is this. How much money are my skills worth? Well, hmmm. The question is more specific now, but also somehow more overwhelming. I have so many skills, you see. Surely my versatility alone is also a skill?

So that's on my to-do list. Make an inventory of my skills and set a price point for each of them. Good. But I'm not going to do that here, because really, who wants to read that shit?

I'm gonna test out a cultural/sociological theory on you guys; poor, unsuspecting readers that you are. So often we are discouraged from thinking about self-worth in monetary terms. Now, I agree, one should not develop a sense of self-worth that is tied to one's salary. But what a person makes is different from what a person deserves to make, and my theory (here it comes!) is that ENTIRELY separating money from self-worth serves to keep poor people poor. They make what they make, and if they feel they are worth more than what they make, it's an intangible worth. That intangible worth is HIGHLY valuable, but it won't necessarily help you change your stars. Those who are able to connect their sense of self-worth to a specific monetary sum are better equipped to actually go out and actually make that much money. This is what the children of rich people learn how to do from the moment they are born.

I'm learning it right now.

I deserve to make at least 6 figures. I'm gonna start with a high 5 goal (high 5!). I'll get to work on that.