Her gratitude significantly outweighed the gesture. I had just helped an older woman open a locked door to the church on the corner. I identify more as Hobbit than human, and she looked half my height as she shuffled her walker along the sidewalk, moving toward me.

I have a thought experiment for people my age (or even a little younger) and me: stop getting annoyed by the younger, entitled people in your business. I have been guilty of this, and I think I am wrong. We can get bothered by young people who aren't willing to [fill in the blank-work the hours, make the sacrifices, do what it takes] or because they [fill in the blank-want to be rewarded for what they do, expect too much from companies, etc.].

My back and leg hurt. I'm lucky because I have had almost zero back issues or challenges before the last few weeks. I tweaked my back and am experiencing the loud voice of the usually silent sciatic nerve. I have been to the doctor, am starting PT, and doing everything you should do in this situation. BUT IT HURTS.

"Do you know that Joe is telling people that you aren't working and are just sleeping around?"  A fresh college graduate in my first job out of school, a co-worker shared this short but gut-wrenching piece of information with me. Joe (the name has been changed to protect the guilty) did a lot more harm than that.

Should I feel confident? Scores of companies rank confidence as an essential leadership trait. Countless women's leadership workshops offer participants the prospect of career advancement as they learn to embody confidence. I do enjoy a certain kind of confidence when I see it…not the puffed-up kind, but the authentic, genuine, grounded…. "I've seen some shit, and I'm okay with myself" kind of confidence. 

I was fortunate in my twenties to get to be a volunteer for hospice as a patient companion. If you are too young to care about the word…hospice means taking care of people who are about to die, maybe in a week, maybe in six months.