Before we start this year
Not another annual review, or a list of resolutions or intentions. But a reminder...
I want you to consider a thought.
You’re good enough.
As you are. Warts and all.
Never mind the holiday season extra weight, a room full of guilty purchases or hazy memories from New Year’s dalliance or two.
You’re good enough.
Before your resolutions, and after you drop them.
I overheard small snippets of yet another one of my wife’s counselling sessions on Zoom. I try not to listen in, but if you’re in the kitchen making a quick cuppa you hear things. Before you ask, I don’t know the patient’s name so their confidentiality is secure.
But the key point is that every one of her patients, and she concurred when I asked her afterwards, every one’s issues could boil down at least to some extent to this insidious thought:
“I’m not good enough.”
So please start this year, knowing that
You’re good enough.
As you are.
Yes we can be better. Yes we should strive. Yes we may fail or succeed. Regardless,
You and I are good enough.
Trying, striving, failing and succeeding is the journey we choose or find ourselves on.
We’re still good enough.
We deserve to exist, to be, to belong, to write, to create and to share.
So, Happy 2023! 🎉
Get out there and chase your dreams.
Or those pesky resolutions.
But either way, know that you’re — say it with me now —
I’m good enough.
What are your plans for 2023? What are you excited about or what scares you?
It took over a month for me to get to this one, but I made sure to keep it as unread on my inbox. I can't have unread mails in my inbox, they are either read or deleted. Unread mails are things I have to get to. And I had to get to this one.
It was worth it.
Thanks for the generous words, Zane. You're right, by the way. Very right. And this is an important message.
I know I'm good enough -- I've learned that recently -- but the thing my wife and I are working on is the fact that knowing is not feeling. You know, like, you know writing a novel is hard, but that doesn't necessarily make it easier. The feeling is what gets you. But then I learned last year, in therapy, that feelings aren't facts, so that helps. Still, again, knowing is not feeling.
So I know I'm enough even if I don't feel it, and I know feelings aren't facts, but goddamn feelings always sneak up on me and make me forget. That's why reminders like this one are important.
Thanks, Zane. I appreciate it.