In his keynote address to the class of 2023 at Columbia Law School’s graduation Monday, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York shared a personal story from his childhood as he reminded graduates that even the most successful attorneys face challenges and self-doubt.

“It is tempting to look at a person’s life as a collection of titles and achievements, to read it like a résumé, to view it as a series of mountaintops,” Williams said. “She achieved this, and then she achieved that. He accomplished this, and then he accomplished that. As if it is possible to go through life leaping from peak to peak. We cheer the mountaintops, but we get real quiet about the valleys in between. As if the valleys aren’t part of the journey too.”