I Am Enough

When I first heard about this idea, I must admit I had a lot of resistance to it.

The little voice in my head instantly went to work compiling an exhaustive list of why I shouldn’t do it.

Do you really want other people to see this?

Are you really going to become that guy?

Everyone who uses your bathroom is going to think you are cheesy and lame.

The idea that my ego was desperately trying to avoid was one that I learned on episode #387 of The Model Health Show, titled Reprogram Your Mind For Better Health And Success — With Guest Marisa Peer.

Marisa Peer is a world-renowned speaker, Rapid Transformational Therapy trainer, and best-selling author. She has nearly three decades of experience as a therapist and has become one of my favorite people to listen to.

Mostly because her ideas are brilliant, but I’d be lying if her British accent and amazing voice didn’t factor into the equation.

The idea that she shared on The Model Health Show was this:

Write a list of simple affirmations that you say out loud every single morning, starting with the words “I am enough.”

A sigh of relief…and…lipstick?

As soon as I repeated “I am enough” out loud, I felt something inside of me shift. I realized that I have used those first two words together frequently, but never followed by “enough.”

Combining those three simple words together satiated a part of me that had been silently yearning for acceptance. They fed a deep and subconscious need within me. They spoke to the inner child in me that was constantly seeking validation and approval. Not just from the outside world but also from myself.

These three words were a breath of fresh air. As soon as I said them my entire being breathed a sigh of relief. These three words embodied permission to simply exist for a few moments without comparing myself to the world around me. In that single moment, I was fully accepted.

I was loved, I was complete, I was enough.

And then, my inner voice piped up again.

It was triggered when Marisa recommended that I write my affirmations directly on my bathroom mirror in lipstick.

No way, you can’t do that! You don’t even own lipstick.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t overly eager about the idea of me strolling through the CVS checkout line with a tube of bright red lipstick. Despite being a firm believer in seeking discomfort, this wasn’t an experience I was dying to have.

So I improvised and wrote my affirmations on a piece of paper from my office.

 

I am not the same

It’s been almost a year since I taped these affirmations to my bathroom wall.

I am enough.

I am strong.

I am smart.

I am bold.

I am creative.

I am charismatic.

I am unstoppable.

I am unlimited.

They are the first thing I see each morning when I get out of bed and the last thing I see before I fall asleep. My roommates have gotten used to hearing me say them out loud and I no longer worry about strangers reading them and judging me.

Why are strangers using my bathroom in the first place?

I looked in the mirror the other day and I noticed something incredible. Although I still look similar from the outside, my inner landscape is not the same.

I am not the same person who wrote these affirmations a year ago, hoping to someday embody them.

Through daily routine, repetition, and self-love I have slowly shifted the lens through which I see myself. For the first time in my life, I feel as if I am accurately describing myself when I speak my affirmations each morning.

And that feeling of enoughness, that feeling that I am worthy and valuable, is indescribable.