“What’s the worst that could happen?” I asked her, after she told me she’d been moved to a different team, with a new manager.
“The worst would be to get fired,” she said, continuing to explain why that would be so difficult—how much she wanted to fit in, how she didn’t want to go through the stress of job hunting, especially since she already had a lot going on.
I let her talk, then gently said that, in my opinion, the worst thing wasn’t getting fired.
At her age (just shy of 30), with her level of education (a PhD earned abroad in a research field), with her involvement in so many projects, there was no doubt she’d find something else.
The real worst-case scenario was getting sick again.
Being bedridden for two to three months, struggling to recover.
Her body had already sent her signals—had told her something was wrong.
If she kept going the same way, the results wouldn’t be any different.
She went quiet. I waited in silence.
With tears in her eyes, she said no one had helped her see that she herself mattered too.
We so often forget what really matters.
I’m not advocating for extreme selfishness—not at all.
Nor do I support limitless self-sacrifice, where you stop existing just to serve others.
What I believe in is balance—caring for ourselves so that we can care for others and perform at our best.
When one of my colleagues went on a ski trip, I lent him my car because his had some mechanical risks—it needed a service check, especially on the battery, since low temperatures could have left him stranded.
We take care of our cars.
We bring them to the shop.
We get them inspected regularly.
Someone checks under the hood to see if everything’s in good shape.
But people?
People get sick when their immune system is worn down.
Why?
Because they’ve been under emotional stress for too long.
Because they’ve taken on too many projects.
Because they’ve been eating erratically—too little, too much, too late at night.
Because their environment is too tense, and they haven’t been given time—or haven’t taken the time—to recover.
Because they haven’t slept enough, haven’t exercised.
Because they’ve spent too long surrounded by negative, aggressive people who gradually diminished them.
This applies not only to our professional lives but to our personal lives too.
It’s essential to place both our job and ourselves on our priority list.
And that means sometimes taking ourselves to a kind of garage, just like we do with our car.
Looking beyond the exterior.
Checking what’s going on under the surface.
Doing a personal version of a technical inspection—our own ITP.
Because while we can lend someone our car to help them get somewhere, we can’t lend them our body.
We only get one.
I remember something I learned at my very first sales training years ago:
“The most important person in the world is you.”
If that sounds selfish, think of the airplane safety instruction:
Put your own oxygen mask on first.
Everyone chooses what to prioritize.
But maybe it’s time we remember—we’re part of the equation too.