Ayn Rand gave me two valuable lessons.

The most important one was her definition of selfishness. She helped me to see that it wasn't wrong to be selfish, to put my needs first and do what is in my best interests. Funnily enough, that isn't being self-destructive like I was being and like a lot of people imagine selfishness as. I felt so guilty for even having needs, for even trying to meet them when I could be helping others. That kind of pain is hard to live with. But I had a very black and white view of selfishness... selfishness was bad and selflessness was good. If I wanted to be a good person then I always had to be selfless, I didn't realise I was setting myself up for resentment and pain. My needs being unmet because I wasn't meeting them.

This other valuable lesson is one that I still struggle with, but she helped me to realise the importance of choosing life. If you don't choose life then everything would be meaningless since you'd be dead. At your foundational roots, you need to choose life. From that choice, you can create your own set of values and ethics, and then to act on them. Choosing life is where meaning stems from. I'm not sure if she put it that way but a quote of hers got me thinking about it.