We have all thought before: "Am I good enough?" Now, before we let our eyes clinch on to those few words and allow our anxiety to flow, let's take a deeper look --- www.Dictionary.com gives us these definitions,

"Good - morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious"

"Enough - adequate for the want or need; sufficient for the purpose or to satisfy desire"

So now let's take a few words from each: Righteous and Adequate.

In essence, the phrase good enough virtually means 'Adequately Righteous'. All of the words above are interchangeable with another; 'virtuous enough', 'morally sufficient'. These two root words have two completely different meanings. One states perfection while the other discards it.

So Why are we all in pursuit of a title that contradicts itself?

There is no specific answer to why we strive to achieve discarded perfection, it's different for many people. The reasons range from childhood issues to deceased loved ones to abandonment and fantasy, but even though we can't understand why this effects more people than you may realize, we can understand why we shouldn't allow this thought to enter our hearts and condemn our minds. The mindset that we inherit when we focus on being adequate is cancerous. First it takes over our minds. It releases certain chemicals throughout the brain that can trigger memories and emotions that are held so far deep under our personal wall, but it doesn't harm the wall itself. It only builds it higher because we are dangerously afraid of letting others obtain what we kept so quiet.

It then proceeds to afflict our hearts. One of the many Bible verses that I hold dear to states,

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." - Proverbs 4:23

When our hearts become overtaken, we fail to protect the most precious thing we have. We start to close our hearts to those we once trusted and begin to firmly believe that the ones who try to open it are only doing so out of obligation. I mean, who wants to see someone in pain, right? But our minds tell our hearts that everyone does, even if they don't notice it themselves.

So how do we overcome this plague that controls our interactions, emotions, memories, and dreams?

That's simple --- We guard our hearts. The answer itself is simple, but the process is easier said than done. Many people fail to overcome the desire to be good enough because they want an instant and immediate result, but you can't cure cancer in an hour. Heck, you can't even shake off a common cold in that amount of time.

It takes time, but it doesn't take forever.

So, how do you guard your heart, you ask?

You surround yourself with people who force you to think differently; people who force you to understand how beautiful, amazing, and so much more than just 'adequate' you are. You do that thing that you love to do; run, write, sing, fish, paint, cook, drive, read, or even just chill. You do it so much that it replaces the thoughts of 'good enough' with thoughts of love.

You love.

You love so deeply that anything that is said against you will not be believed; will not be validated. You give yourself a million reason to say one thing ---

'Good Enough' will NEVER be good enough for me.

"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33