How many times have you encountered the feeling of not doing enough, or not being good enough?
Well, the good news is that everyone goes through these emotions. These affect people in many different ways than they can comprehend.
It depends entirely on the power that you assign to the thoughts. Do you allow these thoughts to blackmail you, or you just let them drift by? Even famous writers, entrepreneurs, and speakers don’t feel good all the time. They want to run away from situations many times. Your mind will always be afraid, but you should not let it control you.
But why precisely do you feel like you are not good enough?
1. Your Expectations
Have you ever wondered how would you feel if you didn’t have any expectations?
If you expect something to happen, and if it does not happen, then you immediately go into the I-am-not–good-enough-mode.
To bypass your expectations, you need to focus completely on what you are doing at the moment. Allow life to take care of your hard labor, because you are entirely responsible for your hard work, not the results.
You need not fret about the fruits of your labor, as this will worry you. When you are preoccupied with the results, you pull yourself from your present to an imaginary future that is usually fearful. Your anxiety then strips you of your energy, and to make matters worse, shoves you into laziness and inaction.
You have to focus on what you can at the moment, as this is what you have. You can’t resist life, and if you choose to, you will suffer. Hence, focus on the moment.
2. Your Conditioning
All of us come into this world without any conditioning. We don’t even know how to think because we don’t have any concepts or ideologies. All of those are learned later.
Take the example of children, as they explore and enjoy what is. They live completely in the moment which is why many people love babies and small children. They are not judgmental and look at you without any thoughts.
Then we come across people who grow up with conditioning that does not serve them anymore. Like when starting a business or living a fulfilled life. Conditioning is simply building upon thoughts that people pick up from the outside world. If that conditioning is not at par with reality, then it is you who will suffer.
Everyone goes through their fair share of heaven and hell.
At times your conditioning will tell you that you are not good enough, but merely this thought of not being good enough is also not good enough. This isn’t sufficient, because thoughts cannot break you.
If one thought tries to break you, replace it with another thought that can raise you.
3. Your Thoughts
Another reason why you don’t feel good enough is your thoughts, and the power you give them.
If thought tells your mind that you aren’t good enough, you can choose to either believe it or let it drift away with a smile.
This doesn't mean that if you ignore your thoughts you will feel instantly happy. The thought and feeling may linger and keep coming back to you, but that is okay.
Many people have the habit of believing every thought that comes to their mind, which is indeed a vicious cycle. Rather, there are countless who live their entire lives as slaves to their thoughts.
But now is the time to cut the fuel supply to your destructive thoughts. Just because a thought tells you that you're not good enough doesn’t make you so. Right now, you may have a thought knocking on your mind, “yeah right, but...”
Be careful, as this is another thought trying to assist the previous one. Don’t let them rule without supervision.
It is okay if you feel overcome by fear. You may experience everything on the spectrum of emotions. You don’t need to change your thought process or your feelings all the time. Once you allow things to happen the way they want to be, you will witness interesting things.
4. Your Transcending Doubts
Whenever you feel doubts creeping up, try not to feed them by thinking about them excessively. These thoughts will try hard to seduce you to engage because that is how they work.
Whenever you have feelings of doubt, you will feel doubt. But that does not mean something big, because this means that you are going through a thought. Nothing more.
If you don’t feed your thoughts by trying to fix them, they will disappear eventually, because they’re replaced by new ones.
Perhaps, the most significant message is you don’t have to feel good enough to be good enough. Deep down, you're already too good to be true, and nothing can change that. It is your thoughts that you feel, not your circumstances.
It is human to feel on top of the world most of the days, and then there are days when you feel you are just not good enough. That is how life works for everyone. There are ups and downs in this rollercoaster called life. There is nothing you can do about it, except to enjoy your ride.
The Simplest Conclusion
This feeling of not feeling good enough is not a problem. There is no need to fix it, or yourself, rather fixing it, feed it, which you certainly don’t want to.
If you feel deeply anxious about anything; try taking a break for a couple of days, because there isn’t much you can do about it. Feeling anxious or fretful isn’t that bad. When you choose to relax by taking days off, you will notice your inner self shining more, because there are lesser nudges inside your head.
You don’t have to be good enough to do what you love. Notice what fascinates you and follow the breadcrumbs. After all, this is how life unfolds, and this is okay.