Your middle name, your family’s old jokes, the town you were born in. You’re made of more than what you’ve accomplished.

A life is made of particulars that have nothing to do with achievement: a middle name, a joke only your family understands, the town on your birth certificate, the way your grandmother said a word. None of it goes on an application and all of it is you, which matters most on the days when the achievement column is looking thin. Worth is not only the part that can be listed.

Write down five true things about you that could never go on a form. Keep the list somewhere findable for when a result disappoints you. Ask an older relative for one more to add.