Has anyone ever said to you, “You are good enough?” Directly said it to you, not through a text message, but through personal interaction. Fortunately, I have had these four words said to me, but I know not everyone can say the same. As the world is becoming more globalized, competition is growing. When your parents were in high school, they were competing with the person next to them, but you must compete with an individual half way across the world—a person whose name you do not even know. In our society today, beauty and good looks continue to be idolized. Women pay large sums of money to refine their body into what is deemed more perfect. It has become impossible to browse a magazine section without at least one cover being of an edited, airbrushed model. By junior year, high school adolescents receive a letter or numerical grades representing their intellectual standing. In the mix of evaluating our prospective employee value, beauty and intelligence, have we forgotten to teach individuals of their worth? It can be very easy to forget all we have to offer the world. The fact is, we all have worth. So, if you are reading this today, I want to tell you that you are good enough! No long do I want you to think you are not good enough.

But, what is “good enough?" It is a question that I cannot define for you; it is one you have to define for yourself. However, I can share my personal definition with you. In my opinion, someone is “good enough” if they make an effort to be a good person and stay true to who they are, but we start to get into trouble when we base our definition off of others. The feeling of not being “good enough” strengthens when we compare ourselves to others.

Have you ever had the thought, “Wow, I wish I was more like them?”

Admittedly I have had this thought, as I am sure many others have too. When trying to define our worth, it has become increasingly difficult to do this without making a comparison to another person. However, we often fail to realize the very person we are idolizing most likely feels the exact same way about someone else, perhaps even you! Just like you, they have their faults, insecurities and qualities they deem as flaws, the only difference is we are not able to see this about the other person. However, we know all of these things about ourselves. We are our own worst critics; all of the flaws we see wrong with ourselves, other people do not even recognize. But, just because we are not like someone else does not mean we are not “good enough.” We are different, but that is the way God made us: different, unique, one of a kind, individual masterpieces. Life would be extremely boring if we all looked the same and had the same achievements.

Instead of being jealous of someone else’s looks or achievements, celebrate them, “Good for him/her! That’s awesome!” Be happy for them, and then continue you on with your life. Continue working on you, and you will be a much happier individual.

When thoughts such as, “I am not good enough, I will never be good enough, I am not pretty enough, I am not smart enough,” start to set in try to refocus your attention on the things you love about yourself. If this is still difficult, take notice of the things the people close to you cherish about you.

As said in an article written by Maddison Sonnier, our minds are often very convincing liars. The most negative thoughts we have are usually not true, they are just thoughts. But, when we let our negative thoughts surmount in power over the positive ones, it can really harm our well-being.

Feeling like you're “good enough” does not come from your appearance or achievements. Yes, feeling beautiful and accomplished is a good feeling, but your body weight, skin color, hair color, height, grade point average and class standing do not amount to your identity or worth. The solution to these devaluing feelings is not found in changing those things—it is found when you make an effort to change your mindset.

Place worth on being different, being unique. Learn to value and love yourself. Ignore society’s “perfect” definition of beauty and success. Define it for yourself. The best thing you can be is yourself. It is not easy to do, but feeling "good enough" starts with changing your thoughts.

But, if you have never heard these four important words from anyone…

You are “good enough.” You are a unique individual, with unique experiences. You are beautiful/handsome. You are MORE THAN “good enough.” Have faith and confidence in yourself, and I believe you can accomplish anything.