The Power of ‘I Am Enough’
As I looked over my (new year) resolutions, another thing that I realized is that although I have made progress, I haven’t done it as quickly as I wanted to make progress. But it still counts! For the first time, I actually believed that I did enough! It’s one thing to say ‘I applaud all my little accomplishments’, it’s a completely different thing for me to actually believe I deserve praise even if I don’t reach my lofty goals. And for the first time, I truly believed what I did was enough. It’s a beautiful feeling.
I had this realization as I was returning a book to the library. My goal is to read one-hundred books this year. I’ve finished my first book of the year today. And it was a great book that I learned a lot from! Rather than lamenting the fact that I need to read more to stay on track, I’m going to allow myself to enjoy the fact that I gained a lot of insight from the book I did read. I’ve got a ton of books in waiting and I might push myself to read a little more — maybe I’ll replace a significant portion of frivolous YouTube time with reading. But I can accept that I am enough whether I’ve read one-hundred books or one and that is the best motivator for reading more.
Acceptance doesn’t mean not to strive to be greater. There’s a subtle but essential distinction. If you strive for more without accepting yourself in the absence of what you think you lack then you will never have enough no matter how much you gain, and you will always feel “less than” because your worth will be dependent upon whether you gain what you think you lack. By accepting yourself right now, as you are, you can and will still strive to grow, but that striving will come from a place of wholeness, not a place of insufficiency. And when you truly can believe ‘I am enough’, you will absolutely be pulled toward growth and expansion becuase that’s human nature. But you will do it from a place of power, not a place of powerlessness. And that is the secret to lasting, true growth and progress.
