Personally, I’m a straight, white, cisgendered, and well-educated woman in a field that favors all those things. Not to mention I have a very supportive family structure. So I was already playing the game with a big leg up. My obstacles existed, but they were far from terrible. Many of them are in my head. But that’s not a small thing either. Self-doubt and mental health are huge for us, as is the ever present impostor system. The best I can do is tell myself I’m not alone in thinking everything is about to fall apart, or that I don’t deserve my career. I’ve largely been in a position where if I put my head down and do the work, good things have followed. I know that’s nowhere near the norm, and perhaps not helpful, but I think it’s important to be upfront about this kind of thing. The biggest challenge has been believing in myself and my work, and sometimes that can be insurmountable. But we push through, don’t we?