When You’re the Office Scapegoat: A Reminder of Your Value

Recently, an old friend reached out, someone I worked with for the majority of my corporate career. As soon as I saw her message, I could sense the exhaustion underneath. She described feeling overwhelmed, unheard, and undervalued. She shared that no matter how hard she works, nothing seems to matter. She isn’t respected, her ideas are dismissed, and somehow she’s become the black sheep, the one blamed for things that aren’t even her fault. 

She’s doing everything she can to keep her head above water, and yet she feels like she’s failing at every turn. 

More and more professional women are telling me the same thing: they feel invisible, exhausted, stuck, and unheard. These aren’t isolated experiences, they’re symptoms of women carrying an emotional, mental, and physical workload that no one sees. 

When you feel like nothing you do matters, it’s easy to believe that maybe you are the problem. But here’s what I reminded my friend: 

She has value. Value that is not determined by her workplace. Value that existed long before she ever stepped into that job. 

As a professional. As a woman. As a human being. And in her case, as a wife and partner. 

You Can’t Pour From an Empty Cup 

Every day she tries to pour from a cup that has nothing left in it. Eventually, something breaks, and it’s usually us. 

Some of the refill comes from others, being heard, validated, supported. But the deeper refill has to come from within. It’s the intentional pause. The reset. The moment where you choose yourself again. 

This Is Your Reminder 

You are not the problem. You are exhausted. You are undervalued in spaces that don’t deserve you. And you are allowed to step back, reset, and reclaim your worth. 

Resetting Starts With One Step 

For my friend, resetting began with being reminded of her strength, her value, and her humanity. 

For you, the reset might start the same way, with a pause, a breath, an honest moment of recognizing you can’t keep going like this. 

You are worthy of more. You always have been.