I had a terrific professor in grad school George Vlahos who taught a very clear distinction between self worth and worthiness. Self worth fluctuates and how we see ourselves depends on so many variables. Our job may be difficult, the roof leaks, my neighbor is complain about my tree dropping leaves in her yard and a host of other variable daily happenings make the feelings volatile. On a scale of one to ten during the week we can go from zero to ten in a nanosecond. The difference is that worthiness is a constant. Our uniqueness as an individual has a value that can never be diminished. He believed that the very fact of our being a unique person endowed us with deserving love, respect and meaning. All the self worth up and downs never change that fact.