Dear Daughter, You Are Enough

Dear Daughter,

You are enough.

You are enough just as you are. You don’t have to be prettier or faster or smarter or sparklier or cooler or quieter or smaller or perkier or smilier or stronger or anything other than what you are. Because you are enough.

I see you comparing yourself. To me. To your friends. To your brother. To random people you’ll never know.

I see you putting yourself down. Telling yourself you aren’t good enough. Staring at your reflection in the mirror with critical eyes as you brush your hair and wish it were silkier. Putting yourself down for running the fastest mile in your P.E. class, but not the fastest mile in your school. Ripping up your art because it’s not quite as good, in your eyes, as one your friend drew.

I see you deflecting credit for great accomplishments and beating yourself up for perceived failures. I see you expecting yourself to be perfect. And I want to scream,

DO NOT DO THIS TO YOURSELF.

Because let me tell you, baby girl, there will be so many people in this life who will try to rip you down. So many others who will judge you and try to make you feel small so they can feel big.

DO NOT DO IT TO YOURSELF.

Do not buy into the script the world serves us girls at birth. That we are not enough. Not pretty enough. Or thin enough. Or strong enough. Or quiet enough. Or worth enough to make the same amount of money as a man who does the same exact job as we do.

It’s time for that script to be rewritten.

You don’t have to be perfect to be enough. There’s no such thing as perfect. Perfect is BS. We are all flawed, every one of us, and that’s what makes us interesting. If it existed, perfect would be boring.

But what you do have to be is accepting. Of yourself. Of your flaws. Of your strengths. Of your “You-ness.” You have to be your own greatest champion. You have to take credit for your greatness. You have to believe in your awesomeness. You have to be as strong and brave and loud and big as you really are. Do not dull yourself for anyone.

Shine.

I want you to see yourself for the glorious, magnificent, kick-ass creature you truly are.

And I want you to always remember,

YOU ARE ENOUGH.

Just as you are.

This is an excerpt from the book YOU DO YOU, edited by Jen Mann and featuring several women writers. YOU DO YOU is a love-fest for the females in our lives, and is available now on Amazon, Kindle, iTunes, Nook, and Kobo.