Redefining Success No Matter Your Job Title

Last week, I was laying down on a hospital bed in the ER when the nurse asked me, “What do you do for a living?”

The words left my mouth so quickly: “I’m not working right now.”

Later, when I was admitted into the ICU, the cardiologist asked me again, “What do you do for work?” And again I replied, “I’m not working right now.”

By the third or fourth time saying it, I felt something visceral in me. It wasn't accurate. But what was I supposed to say?

Should I have said, “I’m not a W-2 employee of a company with a boss, a title, and a clear career trajectory”?

The truth is: I’m working very hard right now. But not within the confines of a socially predictable role. Here’s how I’ve contended with this new role in life, how I’m finding my worth in the liminal space between pursuing a goal and achieving it.