You are enough, and have enough. Here’s how to start living like you believe it.
If your social media feeds are anything like mine, you’ve seen those words before. You are enough, and you have enough, and this moment is enough for right now.
Using more — more work, more busyness, more stuff — to fill a void doesn’t work. You are enough, as you are. You have enough, right now.
We hear it, maybe we even believe it, but do we act like it?
Our culture is always whispering to us that our lives would be better if we only had more. More stuff, more money. More work, more opportunities. More time and energy to get things done.
Even if we aren’t consciously chanting more-more-more, the pursuit of more can still end up driving our actions, because it’s our cultural default.
We make choices every day about work and food, exercise and activities, shopping and scrolling and sleeping. When have we had enough? When have we done enough? When are we enough?
Chasing after more doesn’t make us happier. It doesn’t make us healthier. It doesn’t improve our relationships.
The pursuit of more leaves us frantic and disconnected, forever looking for next thing — because there’s always more, and there always will be.
But we don’t have to live for the chase. Instead, we can cultivate a habit of enough. We can be honest with ourselves. We can make a practice of looking at what we need, and comparing that to what we have.
We can pay attention to what leaves us feeling fulfilled and what leaves us drained. We of make a habit of asking ourselves: What do I have? What do I need? What do I truly want?
And if what I need and what I have — in terms of possessions, or work, or rest, or relationships — are out of alignment, what can be changed?
We can ask ourselves what we really want more of. Do we need more work, more money, more stuff? Or do we want more time, more freedom, more peace of mind?
We can be intentional about saying: this will be enough for me.
We can confront our circumstances and our desires from a place of authenticity, and we can make changes when our actions don’t align with our values.
It’s easy to say, oh sure, I’m enough, and then go about our days as though we need more. Instead, let’s cultivate a habit of acting on that belief.
You are enough, and you have enough, and you don’t need more stuff to make you more you. Let’s live today like we mean it.
Further Reading:
No Sidebar: At Work
If you’re done running after more-more-more, it’s time to redefine success for yourself. It’s time to choose your own goals instead of chasing someone else’s dream. Here’s how to find your own definition of success.
If you work for yourself, or if you set your own schedule, or if you do creative work, there will always be more to do. But you can work enough and then you can stop.
Always pressed for time? One study says that ‘not having enough time’ might be all in our heads. But if you don’t have enough time, try this.
No Sidebar: At Home
Do you already have more stuff than you use? More clothes than you wear, more books than you’ll read, more kitchen gadgets than you’ll ever cook with? Just maybe?
Here’s how you can have enough money and stuff.
But there’s one thing you probably don’t have enough of. (Or maybe two things.) Sometimes you really do need more.
No Sidebar: In Your Soul
Might this just be the secret to happiness? Well… lasting peace and joy might be a little more complicated, but this is at least a really good start.
You are enough, and you have enough. You, as you are, yourself, right now. You don’t need to be more, or do more, or buy more.