I'm working with the concept of enough this week.
I was inspired to ponder enough by the weekly message at my church. The reason I love attending church, which is a habit only acquired in December, is that what I get from it stays with me all week. Every Sunday I get some tidbit that helps me through the challenges I face. (And let me just say, this is the first time this has happened for me. At other churchs I attended, I left everything in the sanctuary on Sunday. Which is probably why I never really got why people took a perfectly good Sunday and used it to attend church.) This past Sunday it was the concept of enough.
Right off the top of my head, here's some of the connotations of enough that occur to me:
I have enough.
I am enough.
That's enough.
Enough! (as in, please stop.)
And here's the dictionary definition of enough, courtesy of dictionary.com:
adjective: adequate for the want or need; sufficient for the purpose or to satisfy desire.
pronoun: an adequate quantity or number; sufficiency.
adverb: in a quantity or degree that answers a purpose or satisfies a need or desire; sufficiently.
interjection: (used to
express impatience or exasperation): Enough! I heard
you the first
time.
Variations on the same theme, to be sure. And honestly? Words like adequate and sufficient don't really inspire me. I'm more attuned to words like abundance, prosperity, and surplus. I've often joked that my motto in life is more.
But I'm starting to learn to wrap my brain around loving the word, and the concept of, enough. As in: I'm a good enough writer. I'm a good enough person. I am enough, just the way I am right now. Does this make sense? Instead of always reaching for the external for more (more money, more love, more success, more whatever) maybe its time to look within and realize how much we have internally. Perhaps the concept of enough is what we need to bring some equilibrium back to ourselves. (Sorry to include you in this if you don't feel you need that equilibrium.) Maybe in always reaching for more, for more success, for more abundance and prosperity we're forgetting that we're just fine the way we are and the biggest task is to accept that.
Smart enough.
Thin enough.
Rich enough.
Good enough.
Pretty enough.
Time enough.
You-name-it enough.
I'm not really sure how this all pans out, because I'm still thinking about it. But I think I like this concept of enough a lot. I think it makes it easier to breath, to be me, to exist with gratitude and joy on this crazy, troubled planet. I think that by accepting myself as enough, it opens the door for whatever else I want to be. The trick is in the accepting first.
I dunno, but I think so. And maybe thinking it is enough.
What do you think?
Zan Marie
Charlotte, I understand the challenge of accepting oneself as enough. I fight with it everyday. Acceptance of who you are gives balance and foundation to reach for more growth. Good post.
Christi Corbett
Charlotte,
This is such a great post for writers. The concept of “is this good enough” is something I struggle with daily.
Christi Corbett
Charlotte Dixon
Thanks, Zan Marie and Christi. I think we all struggle with this issue. As a wise woman recently said to me, “If you’ve been raised in Western culture, odds are good that you have a deep belief that something is wrong with you.”
Aaron D. Graham
I liked this post more than you know! Thank you for your honesty and candor. Keep in touch.
J.D.
Some people don’t know enough already. Some eat a slice from a perfect coconut cake and wonder if a piece of pecan pie wouldn’t be better. This ubiquitous doubt rears its head in every encounter, in all the facets of life for some, including writing. What if just once there was an answer? What if her or she actually ate that pie? Would that one fulfillment give understanding to a multitude of questions? Is it the cook or the appetite, and what has that to do with words?
Charlotte Dixon
J.D., Love the examples you chose. Its about being present and also harks back to gratitude in its simplest form, appreciating what is on our plates in front of us.
Aaron, I’m so glad you got a lot out of the post, thanks for stopping by.
Kari Marie
I’ve recently discovered the hidden beauty in the word enough. It’s almost freeing. Great post.
Charlotte Dixon
Kari Marie, I love that–hidden beauty in the word enough. Thank you.
This Is It, This Is Enough, Right Now | Charlotte Rains Dixon
[…] in March, I wrote a post titled Enough, which explored all the various permutations of accepting that we all have enough for whatever we […]