My sixth-grade teacher seated us around our classroom room in IQ order. I grew up feeling like I could never let my guard down because I had to uphold the image of being “smart” all the time. Many years later, letting go of this allowed me to take the risks that were essential to growing both personally and professionally. I’ve learned that in order to develop into the people we want to become, we need to let go of our need for continual validation.
