I constantly struggle with my need to be ENOUGH. Be it a mixture of being a black woman, childhood trauma, perfectionism, people pleasing, or natural competitiveness, I often feel I am not doing enough.

As I watched one of the most competent and accomplished women I’ve seen in leadership be berated and dragged through the mud, I realized that played into the societal stigma that black women can never be enough. It is a heavy burden and it wears our black girls down. We must work to combat this stigma by reading and teaching our girls about some of the women who have come before us. It is one of the best ways to show how we have always been enough.

Let’s do a snapshot comparison of this country’s current state:

Juris Doctorate, Chief prosecutor, District Attorney, Senator, and Vice President (called not good enough to be President & accused of sleeping her way to the top)

Executive clerk, associate professor, private practicing lawyer (good enough to achieve a lifetime tenure as a Supreme Court justice)

We will never be enough by comparative standards. We must learn that we cannot compare ourselves to the standards set by others. We must learn to set our goals and measure ourselves based on the lives we touch doing the things we love.

As a successful black professional, I am constantly reminded by society that I am not enough.

However, as a successful black woman, I am telling you that I am enough, the people I know, and love are enough.

We are more than enough.

We have helped raise babies that weren’t ours. Those babies have grown to be confident, successful people.

We have wiped tears that weren’t ours. We have raised a nation. We have nurtured everyone EXCEPT ourselves.

It is time for us to say ENOUGH and pour into OURSELVES more. Enough is enough!

Dear black girl, you are enough