A word of encouragement

To lighten the tone a bit, I want to share with you something I have not had the chance to share with many people.

Rarely have I received verbal, explicit encouragement. This was particularly true during my time in college. But one time, at the end of my second year, my advisor asked me to do research for him during the coming Summer. He told me my salary, and after a surprised response from me, he said, "You're worth it, Grimes." That brought me to a dead halt, a lump rising in my throat. To the best of my recollection, no one had ever praised me for doing well before.

Fulminating during my college and graduate years, I entered my first postdoc position with a full-blown case of imposter syndrome. Thankfully, this is now under control. But any suffering is for naught if no lesson is learned. And one of the lessons here is to encourage our neighbors from time to time. False flattery is of no use: if it is not sincere and truthful, it will eventually backfire and cause more damage than the intended good.

There are other sources of encouragement, too. One that I hear nearly every week is found in the birthday prayer:

Watch over Your servants, O Lord, as their days increase.
Bless and guide them wherever they may be.
Strengthen them when they stand, comfort them when discouraged or sorrowful, raise them up if they fall.
And in their hearts, my Thy peace, which passes all understanding, abide all the days of their lives.

Whatever your views on religion may be, words are powerful things. Even if you remove references to God and recast the sentences in present perfect tense, it is still meaningful.

I am not one to get all gushy and insist on continuous empty feel-good platitudes, but that does not exclude legitimate expressions of emotion.