You are enough.

I bet you’ve seen that somewhere before, haven’t you? Probably on Instagram. Or Facebook. A pretty picture emblazoned with the words, “You Are Enough”, in a really cool font with a blurred out background of a very attractive person gazing mindfully into the distance. There’s probably a mountain. Or an ocean. And that very attractive person in the pretty picture is definitely wearing white and is barefoot. That person feels all enough.

You don’t need to gaze at a mountain or an ocean or do yoga or meditate or drink green smoothies to feel enough, you know.

You are enough right now. Even if you’re sat reading this in a pair of scruffy trousers—ones you’ve been wearing for the last week—and that definitely need washing. You are enough even if you’re sat reading this on a train, heading towards the office of a job you fucking hate. Even if you feel that everything you do is wrong or that you’re constantly falling short in life, and everyone has their shit together and you don’t.

You are enough even though you don’t know what you’re doing half the time or your fridge is full of gone-off food and last night you drank a whole bottle of wine and you woke up today feeling like death and fuck, you’ve got a meeting at work to chair now and what is the meeting even about?

You are enough even though every time you do finally sit down to meditate you mentally do the shopping list and think really weird shit like, “Why do you never see funeral hearses in petrol stations?”

You are enough even though you only just sent your sister her birthday present. It was her birthday 9 weeks ago.

You are enough even when you royally fuck up. Even though you know your parents are disappointed in you. Even though all you have ever wanted your mum or dad to say is, “We’re proud of you” and they just can’t…. or won’t.

You are enough even though you can’t fit into those jeans anymore and you disappoint people and people disappoint you and life feels hard and scary and you just want to sit down and make it all stop for JUST 5 MINUTES.

You are enough even though you ate 11 slices of stodgy white toast dripping with butter for dinner last night despite vowing you’d make yourself a super salad and you have messy hair and you wear weird clothes most of the time and everyone else looks so smart and Very Put Together.

You are enough even though you still behave like a kid the minute you go home for Christmas and you still don’t understand why, despite spending 4 years in psychotherapy and BEING A FULLY FUNCTIONING ADULT WHO WRITES LISTS AND OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS THAT ADULTS DO.

You are enough even though you sometimes hate parenting and yet you love your kids so much you’d honestly die for them. You are enough even when you’re so tired and know you need to go to bed and yet you stay up really late watching shit on TV and feel even worse the next day and wonder what the hell is wrong with you.

You are enough even though you’re constantly comparing yourself to everyone else on Facebook and can’t understand why their relationships and holidays and meals and children and LIVES look so great and you don’t feel that way about yours.

You are enough even though making decisions is so, so, so hard and you’re constantly looking for approval from others about your decisions, and while we’re discussing decisions, you always find yourself making decisions that please other people and not you.

You are enough even though you’re constantly trying to to prove to yourself that you’re smart and funny and wise and TOGETHER, and yet you regularly find yourself eating cereal straight out of the box without milk. Because the milk went off 7 days ago and you only just noticed.

You are enough no matter how many friends or followers you have on Facebook. You are enough even though you still haven’t got round to calling your Nan and you ate a bacon sandwich for breakfast even though you’ve been vegetarian for 12 years and you donate regularly to PETA, for fucks sake.

You are enough even though you forgot to wish your friend good luck before her really important interview and you never ever keep your New Year’s Resolutions and struggle to drink the recommended 2 litres of water a day.

You are enough even though you farted in a yoga class that time and you still haven’t learned to speak French or play the guitar and you drank 5 cups of coffee this morning despite being ‘caffeine-free’ and you made a whopping great big fuck-up 5 years ago and you still think about it every day and cringe.

You are enough even though you said “I do” and know it’s more like “I don’t” and you don’t know what to do with your life or where to turn and you can’t just eat one biscuit YOU HAVE TO EAT THE ENTIRE FUCKING PACKET and you don’t know why you do that.

You are enough even though no-one ever told you as a child that they loved you and your parents wanted a boy and you were a girl, or they wanted a girl and you were a boy and DIDN’T YOU JUST KNOW IT and you just cannot shake how much that still breaks you even though you’re now 40 with a mortgage and kids of your own.

You are enough even though you’re slowly losing touch with some of your friends because you don’t know what to talk about anymore and you can’t keep up with their witty banter and you feel like you’re 10 again and a total weirdo for feeling that way.

You are enough even though you hate parties and would rather be tucked up in bed with a book, and you gave up alcohol 16 months ago and yet you still crave a glass of wine and drive yourself crazy with ALL THE THINKING about whether to have a glass or not.

You are enough even though you have a well-paying, high-powered job and make very big and responsible and important decisions all week and yet you find yourself covert-ninja style stalking around the supermarket on a Sunday morning because you saw your neighbour and you’re ashamed of what you’ve got in your trolley and the fact that you’re wearing pajamas underneath your clothes.

You are enough even though you forget to brush your teeth every night before bed and you mean to wake up each day and journal and go for a run but you just can’t be fucking bothered and sometimes, you just desperately want someone to take over and look after you for once.

You are enough.
You are enough.
You are enough.

You, reading this, repeat after me, right now. Say it out loud.

I am enough.
I am enough.
I am enough.
I am enough.
I am enough.
I am enough.
I am enough.

You are.

Over and out.