To the girl who doesn’t think she’s enough:

Hi there, it’s me. The girl who formerly, but also sometimes still, didn’t think she was enough. Right about now, you might be asking yourself, “enough of what?” Well, enough of anything really. Pretty enough. Smart enough. Tall enough, short enough. Skinny enough, thick enough. Loud enough, quiet enough. Whatever the case may be. The list goes on and on into infinity. Regardless of everything that we are, there’s always something that we’re not.

Trust me. Like I said, I’ve been right in your shoes more times than I can count. There are still days when I feel that way. It’s inevitable. I assume (hope) that everyone feels that way sometimes. Some days that’s all I can feel. On those days I just want to curl up in a ball on my bed and never leave. But you can’t let those negative feelings win. And I know it sucks and there’s really not much more that feels worse than this, but eventually you’ll come to one of two realizations.

Either you’re going to realize that you are enough and that anyone who doesn’t think so isn’t worth your time. Or you’re going to decide that you just don’t care anymore about what anyone else thinks. Who cares? Not you. And that’s honestly the best feeling ever. Both of these realizations are so freeing for different, but kind of related reasons.

Realization number one is great for obvious reasons. Once you’ve decided that you really are enough, the world totally opens up for you. You start to feel like there’s almost nothing you can’t do. It’s like a never ending confidence booster. Also, you can cut a lot of toxic people out of your life. If someone dares to try to make you feel like you’re not worth their time or not good enough for them, just do whatever you have to do to cut ties with them. They aren’t worth any of your time or effort if they’re not putting in any work to stay in your life.

Realization number two is also great though. Because honestly, the way that we as a society feel the need to give our input about other people’s lives and appearances on social media is revolting. Like I said a minute ago, cut these toxic people out of your life. If you’re friends with someone who makes you feel horrible about yourself all the time, try talking to them about it. But if that doesn’t work, move on. There’s no reason to stay in a situation that isn’t going to help you grow as an individual. Anyone who thinks that their opinion about you is the most important is wrong. Your opinion is the only on that matters.

The moral of the story is this: You. Are. Enough.

You always have been; you always will be. Sometimes it’s hard to see that, but I promise it’s the truth. You are so important and so loved. Keep your head up. Just because it’s hard right now doesn’t mean that it always will be. So keep pushing forward and live a life that you can be proud of with the knowledge that nothing is stopping you. I believe you.

Lots of love,

Alexa