If you’re reading this, there’s a high chance that you don’t feel like you’re good enough.

I don’t think there’s a person among us who doesn’t feel this way – and if they don’t, they’re probably a sociopath. It’s so tough, with everything that we go through in life, all the bullshit from our childhood plus the baggage adulthood adds, to keep our sense of self-worth intact. Most of us feel lucky just to cope with everything on a basic level, let alone consistently feel good about ourselves.

Perhaps the trick is in having compassion for yourself. It’s okay if you’re “just” getting through the day. It’s okay if you make mistakes. It’s okay if you don’t know where you’re headed or what you’re doing. You are a human being. You are so much tougher on yourself than you would be on anyone else in your life. Why do we give compassion to others so willingly and yet deny ourselves any basic kindness?

No one will ever judge you more harshly than yourself. You’re trapped in a prison of your own making – and only you can facilitate release.

There is only one you. Maybe you don’t think of that as a good thing. Those of us who struggle with anxiety and depression often don’t, because we became mired in a self-sabotaging cycle of shame and guilt long ago. But what if, theoretically, we could let all that go? What if you are enough, exactly as you are – and what if you actually believed it?

It sounds so simple – to let go, to relax, to be yourself. And maybe it would be, if you’d never gotten any conditioning, never been taught dysfunctional patterns and habits, and never experienced any trauma. Unfortunately, no one out there has had a life so perfect. We are all struggling, in one way or another, to simply get to a place where we feel good in our own skin.

You are no more or less human than anyone else, no more or less flawed, no more or less deserving. If you can learn compassion for yourself and those around you, perhaps you can move forward with the knowledge that you are good enough, you were born worthy, and no one can take that away.

You have this one short life – I know you don’t want to waste it feeling like you are inferior. I know you’re struggling, that you so badly want to dig out of this hole. I know how hard it is. I’m right there with you. I see you, and you’re beautiful, and you’re strong, and you can learn to embrace the light that you are.

You are a powerful being. You have the ability to orchestrate the change in your life. It’s time to stop giving your strength away to the idea that you don’t matter, because that’s a lie.

You do matter. You are enough, just the way you are. You were born worthy of anything and everything.

I love you. Keep on going. One day at a time. Be kind to yourself.