Enough is a slippery word because it means something different to every individual. It is defined as: something occurring in such quantity, quality, or scope as to fully meet demands, needs, or expectations. The only problem with that definition is that enough is determined on an individual basis because your enough is not the same as my enough. Mae West said, “People generally try to live a full and happy life, and if they do, they have lived ‘enough.’ You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” Of course, she never explained that if you do it wrong, you don’t get a second chance at it. We can sometimes get a second chance in this life, but only if we ask ourselves, “Does this path I’m on, this thought or response, move me closer to my vision of my best life?” If it doesn’t, what is it doing in my life or why am I still on this path? To have the kind of life that is “enough,” we have to live smart. We should pick our battles big enough to matter, and at the same time small enough that we can win. Sometimes in life we get tangled up in situations that we can’t win, we can’t progress, we are just at a stalemate. We have to know when to quit; we have to know when “enough is enough.” That’s when we have a chance to move on. Even if we walk away with nothing, remember we were born with nothing, and we can always remind ourselves that we still have most of it. To quit is considered a dirty word, but sometimes it is the beginning of our progress toward a more productive and fulfilling life.
Every great accomplishment in life began with a dream; from the dream comes a plan, and a plan generates energy. Energy is derived from a vision, a want. Food is a secondary source of energy. There has to be a reason to move and act and that comes from a dream, a plan and often the dream comes as a result of the fact that our current circumstance were unsatisfactory we had had enough, enough of whatever it was that we knew was holding us back.
Sometimes we can look around us and see our clutter and feel that is “enough” and we say to ourselves: “Out with everything I don’t need—the junk, clutter, hangups and hurts—and in with the fresh, fantastic, the unencumbered life we’ve always wanted.”
As I said at the beginning of this thought, there are a lot of ways to think of “enough.”
Edgar A. Guest, one of my favorite “makes sense” poets, wrote
about another way to look at “enough.” He makes us aware that “good enough” is not enough.
My son, beware of “good enough,” It isn’t made of sterling stuff; It’s something any man can do, It marks the many from the few, It has no merit to the eye,
With “good enough” the shirkers stop…
In every factory and shop…
With “good enough” the car breaks down And men fall short of high renown.
My son, remember and be wise,
In “good enough” disaster lies…
Who stops at “good enough” shall find
Success has left him far behind.
There is no “good enough” that’s short
Of what you can do and what you ought.
The flaw which may escape the eye And temporarily get by,
Shall weaken underneath the strain And wreck the ship or car or train, For this is true of men and stuff— Only the best is “good enough.”
Hopefully we all love our spouses and feel they satisfy our every spousal need. Chris Tomlin wrote the lyric to this popular song that he titled “Enough.” I have taken the liberty below to include only selected verses;
“All of You is more than enough for all of me For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in you is more than enough You are…my breath of life
And still more awesome than I know …You are everything…
You are more than enough for me.”
I love the following story about a family tradition bidding each other “enough.” An elderly man and his daughter were saying goodbye at the airport, they hugged and he said, “I wish you enough.” She replied, “Daddy I love you, and I wish you enough also.”
I was standing by the old man while we watched the plane takeoff. He said to me, “Have you ever said goodbye to someone knowing it would be forever?” I said, “forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever goodbye?” I am old, and she lives far away. I have challenges ahead, and the reality is her next trip back will be for my funeral,” he said. When you were saying goodbye, I heard you say,
“I wish you enough.” May I ask what that means? He said, “that’s a wish that has been handed down for generations.” “When we said I wish you enough, we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with enough good things to sustain them.” He went on to say, “I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish you enough Hellos to get you through the final Goodbye.” He then began to sob and walked away. Hopefully you too will have enough. Whatever enough means to you in your life and the life of your loved ones. A wise mother once told her son that “Enough is as good as a feast.”