Recently I had the opportunity to swing by an old site upon which, in the early Triassic Period, I had sprinkled my content fairy dust. I won’t tell y’all which company/organization/evil circus/cult said site belongs to, because…oy.

Now, my name isn’t on it. It doesn’t reflect poorly on my abilities or my professionalism. And it was a blast from the past in that it was lo, these many moons ago. But nonetheless, it stings. But that’s the way it goes, y’all. The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, moves on, etc.

That is work for hire.

And y’know what? That’s okay. Not just because that’s the gig, although it is. Not just because pixels are free, although they are. But because you are not just your past work.

Feeling discouraged? Read that bit again: You are not just your past work.

You should have grown from that work. You should iterate on that work. You should develop new techniques and knowledge and appreciation of your field from that work. But none of that was wasted. You created something that did not exist before, you learned from it, and now you’ve got more to offer.

So what if you don’t own all your stuff? You own you. And you are a stone-cold badass.