Does a nagging voice of negativity ever just show up uninvited to wreak havoc on your otherwise, healthy mindset to draw doubt as to whether you’re good enough? You are. Enough already! Kick that voice out. Call the cops on it. Fight it. Or do whatever is necessary to stop questioning everything about yourself. I mean, it’s a great attribute to be self-aware, but come on. You’re taking this cognizant thing too far.
But since you’re the thinking type, consider this: Today is the first day of Spring. Depending on where you live, it’s likely that the effects of Winter have been pretty evident for the past few weeks. There has been no lush foliage or birds twitting to and fro. There’s been no sun beaming down to warm your skin and your spirits. But behold! Spring is here.
And while the calendar declares that March 20th is the first day of Spring, it may not necessarily and immediately feel like a change. Eventually and inevitably the season will transition to sprouting greens, buzzing things and baby things. For now, though, the date is simply a marker for hope.
That nagging voice of negativity is the antithesis of hope. It’s Winter incarnate where everything is dead and still and you’re wondering why you’re still here alone, underemployed, forlorn, unnoticed or not having that breakthrough that people who are more deserving may enjoy.
But really? Do you really think you’re not deserving? Do you really think that you’re not good enough because of where you are at this moment? You are!
Since it’s Spring, let me give another botanical tie-in to make my point that you’re more awesome than you think. The Chinese Bamboo reaches heights of 80 feet in a mere manner of weeks. Six to be exact. But not so fast. With this wonder of nature, we don’t have all of the details. People see success from their point of view but they fail to see what happened in the beginning.
When a Chinese bamboo seed is first planted, it will lie in the ground for up to five years. Through all the watering and nurturing, it appears that nothing is happening. This seed is a failure! It will never grow and be majestic. It will never get invited to all of the cool bamboo parties. It won’t have a wildly, successful flooring business that influences other industries. It will never be loved and have baby bamboos. It will never be good enough.
But then one day – Boom! It’s bamboo 80 feet in the air. Or it’s Spring and all the green. Or it’s YOU. The lush sprigs of hope have already begun to push forth from soil, bark and concrete to reach toward the figurative sun. So enough with the self-deprecating talk.
It may feel like Winter at times, but the seasons are always faithful. Nothing stays the same. Nothing. Know that if you’re enjoying a delicious ice cream cone, it will soon be eaten up and gone. Know that if you dropped that ice cream cone before you got the chance to enjoy it, you’ll get another one and it’ll be more delicious than its predecessor that fell to its untimely, creamy death.
Just as the seasons cycle, so does the truth that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. The fingerprints of God are all over you and your divets and impressions and imperfections won’t look like everyone else’s. Does that mean you’re not good enough? Nah. You are.
And you are enough.