What is Enough for You?
I made a very slow start into the New year. I also know that stepping into the new year is not a matter of the appearance of January 1st or 2nd on the calendar but a mindset.
There is always a mindset and a state of mind that I embrace the new year with and this year that was missing because I was “busy” with a project that needed to be done and completed. I focused on the project and moved my new year further down and that felt good not pressured.
I gave myself the first two weeks of the new year for reflection and renewal which is what I would have done in the last weeks of the past year.
If you are reading this and the new year left you exhausted instead of invigorated, it ok to recover and transition into the “new year” even if it is February (at least that is what I think).
To help me prepare/transition, I willed myself to attend a virtual retreat hosted by Alexia Vernon.
And then came this statement up in one of the slides: “Name what is enough according to you in facts”.
What would be enough in your 2024 goals? In your quarterly goals? In your weekly goals? In your daily goals?
I struggled with this (as anyone who knows me would agree), enough is such a low bar, I thought. What is enough?
People did not really have any struggles with this, but I did, so I spoke up. I explained my struggle. I am not willing to accept a B enough grade when I know my son is capable of A enough grade (yes, I am one of those parents) and yes, this is an ongoing conversation. “Mom, we got our grades today and you are not going to like this…”
If you are anything like me, who believes in maximum potential in everyone, in moving the bar up each time (at least that is also how I have seen God deal with me), I scale one hurdle; the next one is even higher. Then you may understand my struggle with this question.
But this question is more about definition than it is about enoughness, (if that means anything). By the way, enoughness is not in the dictionary.
To answer this, we looked at three measures for enoughness: Good, Better, Best.
Best is : the stretch goal
Better is: what we want (if I get this…) and
Good is: this is enough.
When is it enough, as you review the day at the end of your day? Are you able to say that I wanted better but “this is enough… I can sleep and not stress”.
Define that which although is not better or best but is enough.
The importance of this, is the serenity you experience for where you got to and the energy to continue the next day.
