Enough is Enough

You have to open your heart and read what your soul wrote inside:

“I am enough.”

~ Dodinsky

We hear about extraordinary people and the incredible things they do or accomplish in their lives.

We hear about it a lot.  It’s on the news, entertainment shows, YouTube, all over the internet.

These stories can be uplifting and inspiring.

They can also be used against us.

Have you ever found yourself comparing your life to the woman who has 9 kids, owns her own multi-million dollar company, built a school and helps run it, started a foundation and just got back from two weeks in Hawaii? (If you think I’m exaggerating, I’m not. I know this person).

My life is pretty ordinary compared to hers – no doubt.

In our society, there’s fear and shame about being ordinary.  Everyone is striving for some kind of celebrity status it seems.  We’re getting the message that if we haven’t written a book, been on The Ellen Show, had a YouTube video go viral or have at least a million Twitter followers, we somehow haven’t lived up to the standard.
Our society is very fast paced and dismisses ordinary, hardworking people.  We may equate ordinary with boring or unexciting or even meaningless.
Brene Brown says, “One of the greatest cultural consequences of devaluing our own lives has been our tolerance for what people do to achieve their “extraordinary” status.” (excerpt from “I Thought It Was Just Me, But It Isn’t”).

We seem to value the level of people’s contributions by the amount of media attention they get – their worth is based on being famous or how much money they earn, regardless of how they achieved it. (Think athletes that take steroids or corporate executives that have a multi-million dollar exit package negotiated while the employees are losing their benefits or pensions.)

Is that it?  Is that what it comes down to?

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “When you compare yourself to someone, you lose every time.”  I know I’ve said it hundreds of times – to myself and others – and I still have a little part of me that still does it.  I would like that part of me to keep getting smaller and smaller.

You, too?

Well, here’s what I know to be true:

My life is my life. I am the creator of it – along with Spirit.  I’m not supposed to have someone else’s life.

I know what’s important to me, what my core values and beliefs are.  I strive to live them each day.  I do not do it perfectly every day – and I’m OK with that.

I can have an extraordinary life anytime I want because I define what “extraordinary” means to me. (I feel I have it already in so many ways).

You can, too.

You are multi-talented, smart, beautiful, sassy, soulful, loving, generous, wise – oh honey,  I could go on and on. 😮

Why not define what extraordinary means to you and your life instead of using someone else’s definition – that probably doesn’t fit anyway.

Is it living each day being fully present to the smallest of things?

Is it about letting go and allowing Spirit to guide you?

Is it eating a hot fudge sundae in the middle of the work day and enjoying every sweet bite?

Is it doing work you love that does not fall into the “normal 9-5” standard?

Is it finally accepting that you are an incredible person and the mere fact that you are breathing makes you enough?

I invite you to decide for yourself what extraordinary really means to you and start living by it.

Let the rest of the world try to become famous.

You already are – where it counts most.

This week’s challenge: I’d love to hear your take on an extraordinary life and what it means to you. Please comment here and let’s get the conversation started. I feel a shift about to happen!