“GOOD ENOUGH, SMART ENOUGH, AND LIKABLE ENOUGH”
“You are good enough, you are smart enough, and doggonit, people like you.” (Stuart Smalley)
The preceding affirmation is provided by my 12-step sponsor. He encouraged me, several years ago, to begin daily affirmations as well as reports. It is a wonderful discipline! I tend to be a positive person . . . except about myself. My pretty-much daily affirmations help me to set a good tone for my day, even (especially?) toward my own self.
I have struggled, since I was little, with believing—or rather, not believing—that I am good enough, smart enough, or likable enough.
The question, of course, is this: What does the word “enough” mean?
Now, I know what the dictionary meaning is for the word, but what about my own, personal dictionary? What does “enough” mean to me?
A good friend of mine pointed out to me years ago that I don’t want to be a good man. I want to be perfect. I initially disagreed with him, but have finally come around to his way of thinking. To be “good enough” means being perfect. Of course, I’m not perfect, and therefore, I am not good enough!
What utter nonsense! But there it is.
And knowing enough? Same thing. “Knowing enough” means knowing everything. Since I don’t know everything, I obviously don’t know enough.
And about people liking me? Of course many do, and some don’t. But if only enough people liked me, then I would be likable enough. And, of course, “enough people” means everyone.
So, I often tend to drag around, with a low-grade contempt for myself.
However, the Bible—both the Old and the New Testaments—often remind me that life isn’t about what I am, or what or who I think I am. Rather, life is about who God is. God is enough, and therefore, I am enough.
Tomorrow’s affirmation, which I plan to keep in focus even today, is this: By God’s grace, I am good enough, I am smart enough, and doggonit, people like me.
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