In life, you’re always told that once you buy this certain item, or once you achieve this certain status, or once you bypass a certain threshold, then you’d have made it in life. Then, you’d have enough to live. Then you’d be respected and recognized.
It always seems like another threshold to topple. Another challenge to overcome. Another reputation to garnish. It’s always more, more, more. On to the next. Struggle to the next mountaintop. Get the next shiny object. Chase the next subjective carrot.
These days, my next shiny object to chase is retirement. I’m researching ways to save and invest wisely. How to grow my wealth. How to make a life budget and plan for the future. How to save up money for marriage. How to retire financially sound and with money in the bank so I don’t have to worry ever again.
Sound familiar?
It’s the feeling of not having enough. The dissatisfaction that now is not sufficient. There’s always this desire for better. A need to improve the world. A means to take action.
None of it is bad or anything. It’s just that we spend so much time worrying for the future. Planning for the next step. We rarely see that we inherently are good enough as we are now.
This doesn’t mean that we won’t encounter tragedies and other hiccups along the way. I mean, if you’re living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to pay rent, it’s easy to say that staying in the present moment will lead to satisfaction. I get that.
We just need to remind ourselves still, that despite our sufferings and tragedies and shortcomings, we are already good enough as it is. We are sufficient. We are whole.
We don’t need to chase for things. Whether it be chasing happiness. Chasing meaning. Chasing purpose. Chasing passion. Chasing overall fulfillment in life. We have everything we could ever want in the here and now. Right here. At this moment.
It’s something that I continuously get back to in this blog, I know. But, it’s just how I feel. That we are all good enough no matter what the naysayers say. This doesn’t mean that we don’t continue to achieve. That we don’t continue to grow and learn.
It’s just about taking a step back and smelling the roses. Seeing that everything we have is worth it. We are worth it. Life is worth it.
Spring is coming and I took a nice stroll around my neighborhood this afternoon. The trees are green. The weather is nice. The sun is booming in the sky. It all sounds picture perfect.
Yet, I’m not ecstatic. I’m not bouncing off the walls. I’m not jumping up and down in ecstasy. I’d say my life is above average, but there’s still a long ways to improve. And that’s how I like it.
I don’t need to be in utter bliss in every moment to lead a good life. I don’t need to feel like I’m on LSD 24 hours, 7 days a week. I’m accepting the moment. Accepting that the here and now is fine just the way it is. It is good enough.
I don’t need to be living a life of Instagram models or Facebook celebrations. I don’t need to compare myself to the utterly ecstatic photos posted on social media. Comparing my lifestyle to theirs. Thinking why I don’t feel the utter bliss that they’re feeling at the moment in time.
It’s all just relative. No need to compare and contrast. Good enough is a state of mind. A feeling that what you have is enough. That you are lucky to simply grace this world. That you are worth it. That you are fine and dandy as it is.
No need to chase and pursue bliss. Bliss will come and it will go. After all, it’s a feeling. And all feelings are transient. Ephemeral. Temporary. For better or worse.
Good enough is the state of mind where you are accepting and grateful for the circumstances. When you can use every feeling, every experience, every external (and internal) context as a means to learn and grow. A means to improve.
For me, it’s the realization that even if I retire at 60 with a boatload of money, I’m probably not going to be utterly ecstatic. I’m going to be ideally happy. There will be times (like for anyone else) when I’m feeling down, or insecure, or ungrateful, or downright unpleasant. Those moments will come. And they will go. Regardless of whether I’m financially secure or not.
But, it’s okay. I’m trying to come to the terms that life is good enough as it is. I will continue to grow and strive. And at the same time, I will continue to appreciate the present moment in all its glory. It’s not mutually exclusive. You can accept and strive at the same time. You can have it both ways in this case.
So, whenever you’re caught in the mundane trenches of life. And you’re feeling blah about yourself. Or you’re getting a case of stagnation, just accept the moment. Appreciate it as a learning experience. And try to find it within yourself to look for beauty and wonder in all situations. And then, you will find that life in the present moment (regardless of feeling) is good enough as it is.
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