You know the feeling. You've been running on a high for weeks, feeling and looking good. Nothing can bring you down, until you hit a small bump in the road and suddenly everything comes crashing down. You look in the mirror and see imperfections, not beauty. You convince yourself that there is no way your friends really love you, they're only spending time with you because they pity you. "Do I really deserve this job? Surely there are more qualified people out there," you think to yourself. By the fault of no one but your own, you tear yourself down, believing the lies that have been stuck in your mind.
Or maybe it is something someone told you. Maybe someone really did say that you weren't smart, pretty, athletic, or cool enough. Maybe they said you were too much of a goody-two shoes, too Christian, too bleh. Maybe nobody noticed that you did your hair differently, something you were sure would get some attention. Maybe you weren't good enough for the starting position on the team. Maybe you weren't good enough for that boy who decided to pursue another girl instead of you. These things pile up and eventually it cracks and spills over, and we convince ourselves that we aren't good enough.
Those words are poison, if we let them continue to seep into our lives.
Here's the deal.
I don't know why you don't feel as if you aren't good enough. I don't know why things aren't working out the way you had planned. I do know that it hurts, feeling rejected. I do know that sometimes it is what I become fixated on. I also know that when I fixate on these things, I beat myself up more than the words of others do.
Here's what I want you to know, not just in your head, but in your heart as well.
You are priceless.
There will always be things and people I can compare myself to. There will always be someone smarter, prettier, stronger. But there will never be another me. I have to believe that I am priceless.
If we constantly live with the mantra "I'm not good enough", that will become our reality. Think of all of the successful men and women in your life. Don't doubt for a second that this thought crossed their mind. The difference between these success stories and the failures? The successes believed in their worth. You'll never know what you are capable of doing until you let go of the negative mantras and believe that you are priceless.
I hope you celebrate the beauty that you are and stop replaying the old records with the negative messages. It's nothing but static. Start listening to the new messages, this message. You are priceless and beautiful and unique and more than good enough.
My prayer tonight is that you know this to be true, not just in your head but in your heart as well. You're more than good enough. You are priceless.
Check out this video by Sadie Robertson and her thoughts on being priceless.
