By Marlin Birkey, A Licensed Family Therapist
There is a pervasive belief in society, and entrenched in many of our minds, that our true worth as persons is defined by our performance or productivity. When we are doing well, and when things are going well, we feel positive and self-confident. But when our performance begins to slip, or when things don’t turn out as we expected, our sense of value begins to slip as well, often resulting in anxious striving to get things “fixed” so that we can feel better about ourselves.