By Leo Babauta

There are many of us who’ve been living for decades with the belief or feeling that we’re not good enough.

It’s such a fundamental belief that we don’t even realize it — but we feel it.

It’s in our ever-present anxiety — if I’m not good enough, then I’m going to fail, I’m going to be show to be inadequate.

It’s in our hiding and avoidance, in our defensiveness, in our trying to please or impress others, in our self-criticism and resentment of ourselves and others.

It’s the fundamental belief and view that we experience life through.

So how do we overcome this nagging feeling that we’re not good enough, reinforced over so many years?

We have to reject the question.

The question might be, “How do I prove to myself that I’m good enough?”

This question is flawed. Reject it completely.

It’s based on some idea that we need to be good enough to be worthy to be loved. That we need to perform good enough to feel worthy. That someone will judge us (or has the right to judge us).

Reject all of this.

Instead, embrace the idea that there isn’t anything to prove. There isn’t any idea of “good enough.”

A tree, for example, doesn’t have to prove its worth, or prove that it’s good enough. It just exists.

We can do the same — just exist, and live life exactly as we are. Explore, be curious, play, learn, love, be generous to others. Or not! There’s no right way to be yourself.

When you find yourself caught in the “not good enough” mindset — reject it, and see that there’s no need for this lens of viewing life. Drop below it to the fundamental goodness of everything.