The most someone can tell you is “no”.
Do you believe that to be your limitation?
That’s enough.
Who told you?
Sometimes, when not making progress perhaps as an outcome to having no process, understandably to suggest, enough, ceases an undesirable predicament or circumstance.
Stop, however? No.
Saying, “That’s enough”, suggests other gateways to start anew.
Should the word “enough” mean the same as “stop”, one does just as believed. To some, however, one foregoes another direction.
An insatiable mindset with perseverance.
The persevering will search for another gateway, another open door, a crack to break through when momentarily halted; another direction to keep going will be then found, multi-dimensionally searched out.
Everyone will stop at one point to an arrival where there can be no destination sought out further.
Even the self-proclaimed unstoppable knows there will come a time when indeed, the end will be the final scene. They have just made up their mind to keep going until that time arrives.
But what of those subliminal messages that creep within the heart, mind, body, and spirit? Those words and phrases that you slowly drive into your senses until you actually are doing what exactly you’ve been listening to or watching?
In the locker room, at the gym I hold a membership, one kind lady was watching a video of a woman talking loudly, expressing strong, seemingly angry convictions of a matter.
The spoken language was one I could not decipher into meaning. However, the loudness and anger in one’s voice could universally be understood.
Due to the tonality, I couldn’t help but look over to get a glimpse of the commotion coming from her phone.
The lady listening smiled and said, “That’s too much drama.”
I gave a gentle giggle and laugh, remembering the Jerry Springer show back in the days in college where my husband and I found ourselves watching heated altercations taking place on stage late at night with nothing else we found more entertaining at that time.
In the locker room, the video kept playing, open for anyone to hear, as the kind lady kept on with the same social media content.
I thought, “Glad my days of watching Jerry Springer are over. Those shows can really rattle you up.”
Fast-forward to a few months, a maddening voice was coming from by the showers as I was walking into the locker room, getting ready to enter the sauna.
That sweet lady was on the phone, fully taking control of a conversation, as she thrusted her clearly heard throughout the room, angry voice, in her language, to the receiving end.
As I entered the sauna, I took no surprise to the eyes that met mine- women unable to restrain their thoughts and opinions of the loudness coming from the lady a few feet outside of us.
“She needs to take a breath. She is talking nonstop.” Others around kept peaking out while others shook their head.
The funny thing about drama is, when your heart, mind, body, and spirit have had its share, such training days arrive you to a calm state.
I took to a bench and continued to embrace this favorite time of my workout where my muscles can find comfort in the penetrating heat.
To what I know would close any further talk, whereas someone thanked me for my perspective at the end of my words, I found myself giving another short laugh before saying, “She’s actually a real nice lady. She obviously feels strongly about something right now. We’ve all been there.”
While it was not a quite stay in the sauna that day, I caught eyes with the nice lady still on the phone as she quickly held eyes with me before closing her curtain as both of us proceeded to shower.
I am a believer that sometimes you need say nothing for one to hear your thoughts. She only continued to talk on the phone in the shower (Yes. She must have felt so strongly about what it was she was loudly expressing she continued in the shower to talk.) for only a moment longer before putting the phone down.
What my eyes quickly sent out to her while remembering to give a kind smile before her curtains closed?
Remember that time when you said that social media content you kept listening to was drama?
I kid you not. That kind lady and I didn’t have to say a word to one another. She and I seemed to silently agree she had just re-enacted that recalled scene I caught a glimpse of on her phone not so long ago.
You don’t appreciate a peaceful shower until trembling noise stops all of a sudden.
A few years back, there evolved the saying, You are enough.
We can positively take this in with full heart.
Each of us are enough.
The only part we must be ready to face, if and when we ask ourselves, to follow such catch phrase is, Enough for whom?
Ever find yourself around with those who are ready to take apart any relationship you may have with someone else just because they balk at one who dare suggest you not being enough?
If we refer to those wanting their cake and eating it, too, well. That’s another cliche for a future discussion where we should wonder out loud to ask, “Why take cake if you aren’t planning to eat it?”
In the case of You are enough, respectfully, you should absolutely be.
Truthfully, are any of us so full of our selves (space intended there) where we can actually guarantee the word, enough?
Stop and think in truth.
Are you?
Have you been?
Are you wanting to be more, but not willing to do the work and sacrifice for improvement?
Are you willing to be more, but not wanting to do more to arrive at the possibility of becoming more?
Whom should you believe?
The one who suggests you to do and be better or the other voice that insists you don’t have to change at all?
Better question yet, “What does your gut really tell you as who is actually for your betterment and strength?”
If you should believe the latter, have you truly reached your greatest potential? Or, is it rather that the delivery of the truth was what actually hurt of the former to where now, you are shielded and guarded to accept?
Could you have thought to yourself, you were enough for a given moment, but to the other pointing out otherwise, their perspective offers room for growth?
Who is in the right when seeing the future version of you? The one who believes you to have better potential? Or, the one who suggests all that you are today is enough?
What is your truth telling you?
What we don’t want to hear hurts at times. I saw it at earliest years with each of my five children.
Their hurt hurt me ten times more.
That didn’t mean, however, I sacrificed truth they needed to hear just to protect their vulnerability and innocence.
Giving love doesn’t always get love returned in the manner hoped.
We have a heart, a mind, a body, and a spirit- all constantly commingling with one another, trying to make sense of our reality while trying best to maintain that self-love.
And, yet, as another catchy phrase from A Few Good Men, starring Jack Nicholson, spewed for all to remember many generations to still follow, “You can’t handle the truth!”
Live long enough and we fall victim to both sides of this coin- the ones that dare say, “Yes. I can handle the truth” with those who would defensively suggest, “It depends what the truth is.”
Yes?
Allow me to reflect.
Nine times out of ten, my husband flourishes me with compliments. Hear that 1 out of 10, all the other nine, while appreciated, become taken for granted or forgotten.
That one time of one’s perceived truth of you, no matter how contextually constructed, become words of insult and verbal attacks; it is that one that gets repeated in the heart, mind, body, and spirit, sometimes succeeding to erase all good about you.
That’s my handled truth in togetherness of over thirty years with my husband.
Luckily, for me, I’ve received much training throughout my childhood, hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and feeling perspective for my own peace and understanding.
I see now, as my oldest children grew, how the inevitable challenges of being called out on wrong turns or choices to undermine one’s capabilities, became more intrinsically problematic to handle.
There are two transitions taking place between the parent and the child.
In the time of innocence, even when a child makes a mistake, the eyes of the child show disappointment, leading to forgiveness for developmental choices and actions.
We know a child at the age of five is merely embracing the understanding of oneself and their very own capabilities; come around ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five- expectations grow and increase along with the developmental milestones.
As time moves, moulding a child into their greatness becomes more challenging, facing greater difficulty to forgive errors as time for a parent to have say runs out.
The child now sees more options of what and how to be, justifying the why.
In times of innocence, such reliance on what, how, and why fell upon the guardiance of the parents.
Confined to a home, only one or least perspective can be seen. Walk into this world, examples of what to be or what not to be are everywhere, expanding the idea of what, how, and why possibilities and thus, quite limitless justifications of ironically, the what, when, and why of you is enough.
When you tell (I was going to use the word suggest, but if I am to be truthful, I get to the point) your child they can do better or more, they believe and trust in you during their first years of comprehensive learning.
They know and trust you love them, never doubting your intentions as a child.
Expose them to others around who have set lower standards, suggest the same as you have done before, and all of a sudden, infiltrations of limitations causes downfall on what they should instead believe.
All of a sudden, you are the too much and they, with the rest, stand as- enough.
Saying one is enough, while innocuous at heart, plays into one’s mind as a crutch until such can potentially become an embedded fallback.
Yes. One is always enough when it comes to the unconditional acceptance of love.
As I’ve heard myself say to my niece once, however, as I grew to realize so much truth in the harshness of realities around, “Love don’t pay the rent.”
Look around. Those who fell in love are in various gradients of holy matrimony. The higher the climb to greater success, love may indeed have been the foundation, but grit and grind took over as love was carried on the sleeve or back.
No one goes to bed thinking, I can’t wait to be out in the streets with the love of my life.
Such occurrences happen because no matter the open sacrifices to take to fall forward, one was enticed to fall and eventually, keep falling back.
There are those who sadly, even with greatest, tireless effort, find themselves having lost control or any form of control, stripped from them.
Having the mind, heart, body, and spirit bought, bartered, and owned is worldly still documented to this day.
When in control, when given choice, when presented an opportunity, the mindset of one desiring to achieve, to succeed, to continue to believe, falls forward, accepting stumbles and all.
Create a fear of being in the same place as yesterday, only those who have arrived at a safe and comfortable destination dare think to anchor.
Those who have not moved simply have anchored long ago.
This is that difference between one who believes, indeed, they are enough to get things moving and done versus one who tells themself the same, but uses the same catch phrase as the weight to hold them down from persuing further.
You are enough because you are a masterpiece created to reach your highest potential.
You are enough because you can achieve what you set your heart, mind, body, and spirit to do.
You are enough because there is only one you to pursue your own set-out purpose.
You are indeed enough to get the job done.
Your job, however. Not someone else’s.
Falling victim to failure only suggests you wore someone else’s shoes to run your race (some even in heels, misunderstanding the concept of harder as always better).
Aaron was enough to do the talking while Moses was enough to lead the way out while Joshua was enough to lead everyone to the promised land.
It is, hence, to be understood when saying, You are enough, to suggest, You have been called to do.
Yes. You are enough.
Enough to go through all the training to become the best version of you.
If you haven’t arrived to be certain, shouldn’t this uncertainty stand to be your truth until you get there?
