You Are Enough

Hello friends, this post has been entered into the writing contest: You Are Enough, hosted by Positive Writer.

You are enough is a statement that carries a measure of subjective thought. The word bifurcates in meaning mostly by connotation. What is enough? When is there enough?  When I hear the word enough, I see my mother on a warm summer day stomp her foot and say “Enough” as her three boys argue over some injustice. Another obvious use that most of us can relate to occurs at the end of Thanksgiving dinner when offered another helping of gravy and mashed potatoes, hands go up in the air and the cry “enough!” is heard echoing through the house.

The basic idea of enough is there is no need for anything else, enough is enough. When applied to you as a writer the small three word phrase offers power and confidence to conquer any writing project that comes your way.  You have enough creativity, enough imagination and enough great ideas to be a successful writer. When faced with the daunting task of editing remember you are enough. When you hit the wall of silence you are enough to scale it and conquer the citadel of beginning, middle and end.

We all need a good “Let’s Go Team” once in a while, but a good dose of reality is important as well. The reality is that life will hand us failure and adversity. Every day of the year since the beginning of time people have failed at task performed and life in general. Businesses go under, buildings burn and rejection letters clog the postal system. However failure is not the last word. There are a dozen platitudes to emphasize the importance of never giving up. The point is “Never Give Up”.

We all know Michael Jordan as one of the best Basketball players in the history of the game, but may not be aware that his path to glory was not always easy. In high School he was told he was too short to play basketball. But instead of giving up he used the negative to drive him to greatness. He is quoted as saying, “I’ve failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.”  In his own way he told himself that he was enough. (http://www.beliefnet.com/inspiration/galleries/9-famous-people-who-overcame-major-failure.aspx?p=4)

Dr. Seuss the well know children’s author received twenty seven rejections for his first book before it was finally published. He is quoted as saying, “And will you succeed? Yes! You will indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed).” Dr. Seuss is no longer with us but were he alive I think he would agree that “You are enough”.(http://www.beliefnet.com/inspiration/galleries/9-famous-people-who-overcame-major-failure.aspx?p=10)

My fellow writers, we are as different as the flurry of snowflakes in a January storm, yet we are united by the same daunting task of putting meaningful words on the blank page. It is time we unite and our battle cry will be “You are enough”. Right now take a blank piece of paper and in an act of defiance write in bold block letters, You Are Enough. Tack it on the wall and anytime the internal critic accuses you of being a want-a-be, look at the moto and tell yourself that you are enough to handle any task that faces you. Personalize it and say it until you believe it, I am enough. I am enough to build believable character. I am enough to show and limit my telling. I am enough to write in a way that people long to read my material. Always remember a writer writes, so write away my friends because you are enough to finish any project you start.