I stopped letting people call me by the wrong name because it was easier

Dear Delyara, My name is frequently mispronounced, and for years I accepted whatever version colleagues used because correcting them repeatedly felt exhausting. At one workplace, a manager called me the wrong name for eighteen months. I responded every time. Eventually, I realized I had become cooperative with my own erasure. At my new job, I correct people politely the first time and again if necessary. Yesterday, a senior director mispronounced it during a meeting. I said, “It’s pronounced…” and repeated it slowly. He corrected himself and continued. No humiliation. No career disaster. Self-esteem sometimes arrives without applause. It can be one interruption lasting four seconds in which you decide your name is not too much work for a room that expects you to remember everyone else’s.