Just How Much Are You Worth?

 Admirer to the Artist: “Wow! This painting is so beautiful! How long did it take for you to create this?”

Artist: “72 years.” 

I recently heard this on a podcast in the context of determining one’s worth or value, and I felt like it really resonated with me. As a psychologist, it is difficult (sometimes) to put a monetary value on the hourly rate that we are “worth.” Am I worth $60 an hour? $125 an hour? $200 an hour? More??? 

I’ve struggled with this over the past year and mentally explored many different perspectives on assigning value or worth to what I do for a living. I’ve even calculated the hourly wage with consideration of vacation, sick, and military leave time, and I’ve tried to include the monetary value of the VA’s contribution to my Thrift Saving Plan (I don’t use their insurance but that is a whole other consideration). Of course, these are all just numbers and can be a rabbit hole to which there is no end. 

So, to put the above quote into context: I heard this on a podcast I routinely listen to and the speaker was talking to the listener who was trying to determine what his work was worth. He was trying to give measure to his creativity, effort, drive, motivation, and experience, and the overall tone of the conversation was that he was underestimating his worth. The speaker told this story of a friend of hers who is an artist and had created a beautiful painting. The speaker was admiring the art and inquiring about what it took to create such a beautiful masterpiece! The answer from the artist?.…. 72 years. I snickered and chuckled a bit to myself. Perhaps the painting was actually painted in 72 hours? But the artist had 72 YEARS of experience, creativity, failures, successes, lessons learned, hardships, setbacks, and the development of genuine talent to create the masterpiece along with the wisdom to her craft. 

Years matter. Lived experience matters. And the culmination of all of that is the true definition of your value or worth. It’s still hard to put a dollar figure on that, but at least considering the idea helps me to be a little more generous with myself. 

I know there will be a day when dollars don’t matter…. and some days, that’s today. When I share some wisdom or experience with a young woman in her late 20s or 30s, and I can see the light bulb go off that says, “wait, what? I don’t have to live like this? This isn’t the way it has to be?” I feel like I’ve used my experience, time, and talent to create a masterpiece.