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In our society, we foster a feeling that we are not good enough. Most of the time this feeling is not noticeable, such as when we set goals to do better. It can also be loud enough to be in our face, such as when we feel like a failure. Either way, maintaining a not-good-enough attitude is a wonderful recipe for misery. If there were one thing that I could convince everyone (even myself at times) is that we are good enough.

Being good enough, just like happiness, is not something that we achieve. It is a perspective, a philosophy, and a way of living life. It encompasses our strengths, weaknesses, beauties, uglies, and embraces them all. It means we own our talents but also the one thing we are all experts in: making mistakes. Our blemishes, after all, are what makes people interesting. Look around at nature. It is full of asymmetries, blemishes, and imperfections. Yet we still enjoy the beauty of sunsets, mountains, forests, deserts, and so on.

This way of living is not a way of excusing or justifying our actions that hurt others. It also does not imply that there is no room for growth (I believe that we are unable to grow until we accept all parts of who we are and practice being good enough). It also doesn’t mean that we will never do something amazing; and it certainly doesn’t mean that we will never fail.

What it does mean is that we are good enough to be accepted by others, to be loved by others. It means that we can be amazing without pride and we can fail without being a failure. We can work hard at developing our talents and laugh when we make mistakes. We can apologize, jump when startled, and hold on to someone’s hand in a haunted house at Halloween. We can get excited over silly things and cry during touching commercials.

It is also important to realize that when we practice being good enough, we also recognize that those around us are good enough too. We don’t need to judge, hate, envy, or wish we were someone else, because they too are doing the best they can.

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