A couple years ago I joined a Facebook group of a Christian author who was somewhat crowd-sourcing ideas for her upcoming book.  Apparently, she had written a book but it didn’t feel relevant/the right topic anymore so she was asking all of us who were following her what topics were on our minds.  A livestream and an hour later, I was jumping on the bandwagon with all the other followers and ordering a bracelet that said “You Are Enough” on it.  The author wasn’t even selling them, I think it was just some girl in the group that suggested it, and I remember feeling like I was drowning a bit in work and other commitments that the “You Are Enough” message stood out to me.  Ironically, I never even wore the bracelet — though I see it on my jewelry stand every morning and I do love the message on it.

Here I am a couple years out from that purchase, and the bracelet itself is starting to tarnish, but the “You Are Enough” message has been coming up in my mind a lot lately.  I think the phrase was sitting there somewhat silently, but a couple weeks ago it jumped back out at me.

If you follow me on social media or have read my previous blog posts, then you know that I’ve recently launched an online magazine for women (if you’re new here, you can catch up on those details here or read the magazine here). The magazine has been awesome for so many reasons and it’s made me feel like I’m fulfilling a purpose.  It launched less than a month ago, and I was ecstatic when we had 1,000 readers within the first two days.  It exceeded my expectations and readership has been pretty consistent in the days/weeks following.  When launching it, I told myself that the number of articles and number of readers didn’t really matter.  But I found myself one day telling Chris, “we only had 80 people read the magazine today,” and he said “how many people are on it right now?” (if you’re wondering, I can see this via google analytics, I can’t see who is reading it, just the number of people on it at any given time), so I say “5 people are on it right now” and he says “cool, 5 people are enjoying it right now.”

It made me pause — 5 people were enjoying it right then.  Enjoying it.  It’s almost as if I hadn’t humanized the readers or even considered the fact that enjoyment was a part of the process for them.  I was secretly (and embarrassingly) just getting caught up in the number of people vs. considering that what I was creating (with the help of the women who have and continue to submit stories) was simply enough.  1 reader was enough.  1,000 readers was enough.  It didn’t really matter, it (and me, and you) are enough.  I didn’t really need to prove anything to myself or to anyone else.  It was all enough as it was/is.

I ended up reminding myself of this “You Are Enough” topic a number of times throughout the couple weeks following Chris’ comment.  Even if I (or you) never drop a pant size in this endless diet/fitness life we’re all trying to live . . . we’re still enough.  Even if we didn’t get our email inbox down to zero at the end of the work day, or week, or basically ever . . . we’re still enough.  Even if we haven’t used our real ovens in a year and tend to throw together “quick” dinners or make the same meals over and over again . . . we’re still enough.

I am ALWAYS trying to better myself.  I mean, ALWAYS.  I am constantly listening to podcasts, asking myself what I can do to be and stay in a positive mental place, I’m always working out or beating myself up over what food choices I did or didn’t make that week, I am constantly taking on more work professionally and personally, I always say yes to things, I am always making sure every single throw pillow and blanket and item in our house is in it’s exact right place.  And don’t get me wrong, all of these bring me a lot of joy, help push me to greater heights and accomplishments and lead to connections or all kinds of great things.

But today, or this week, or whenever your eyes read this post — I just want to tell you and myself and all the people in both of our lives, the way we are right now even if things are physically or metaphorically messy and you are still in yesterday’s clothes or you have eaten a donut for the last five mornings or you have a to do list that is not decreasing or you have lived your entire life thinking you’re fat or you have invested a gazillion dollars in skin care products or your roots are growing out or you didn’t get that one thing (the job, the promotion, the accolades, etc.) — wherever you are at — we are all simply and wonderfully enough.