Pro athletes retire around thirty-five with decades still ahead of them. Be more than one thing.

Building a whole identity on one role leaves you with nothing when the role ends, and every role ends. Athletes hit that wall early and visibly, but it reaches anybody whose complete answer to who are you is one job or one team. Depth in a single thing is good and worth chasing hard. The risk lies only in having nothing else that is also yours.

Keep one other thing alive next to the main one, even at a low level. An instrument, a craft, a subject you read about, a friendship with nothing to do with the team. Twenty minutes a week keeps a door from closing.