I AM Enough Movement – I'm Wearing The T-Shirt

The ‘AM’ in I Am Enough needs to be emphasised. Why? Because I really AM enough. And you reading this? YOU are enough.

This past week while I’ve been practising my Ted Talk ready for the big day on Wednesday my husband said to me in one of my moments of doubt about why was I thinking I could do it, ‘Sharon, why do you always think you’re not enough? You are!’

I mean, I should know I’m enough, right? I have the t-shirt. I designed the t-shirt FFS.

This is a post from my original blog but I thought I’d bring it here as it resonated with me again this week. I’ve tweaked it slightly but it’s the same essential message.

Enjoy!

The ‘AM’  in I Am Enough needs to be emphasised. Why? Because I really AM enough. And  you reading this? YOU are enough. As is every woman who declares it of themselves  even without wearing the tee. That’s why when I designed the t-shirts you can see the women in the image wearing, I made the AM in upper case, capital letters. To really emphasise.

We’re surrounded every day by the never ending message that as women we are convinced  we are never enough.  I sometimes feel that we even perpetuate it ourselves by just accepting everything. While we may accept less than previous generations of women I think we still have such a long way to go.

Heaven forbid if we went around regularly saying we ARE enough … then we’re be deemed as too big for our boots, too strong, even too masculine.

What’s wrong with a strong woman who believes in herself ?

I feel grateful that I’ve spent the last 38 years with a man that loves the strong woman he lives with. But even he’s had to back me many times for being strong because other men and sometimes women too have called me out for speaking my mind. People who’ve gone all out to  minimise me and stop me from  feeling that I AM enough. Trying to make me feel as if I’m ‘too much’.

Have you ever been made to feel ‘too much?’ 

I’ve talked myself down so many times. I used to think it meant I wasn’t a high achiever or hadn’t done everything I wanted to in my businesses. Even that I am not the weight I’d like to be. That it might make me feel enough if I was slimmer. Was I a good enough mum? Wow! What a lot of pressure. If I’m like this I know many, many women will be thinking along the same lines. It’s no wonder we can’t ever feel enough if we can’t even start from a position of self love and self worth.

Imposter Syndrome springs to mind,  doesn’t it? Yes, that old chestnut. The layer upon layer of shit we pile on ourselves so that we never give ourselves the opportunity to feel and be enough.

Everything begins and ends in our mind.

Our mind is the strongest force we ever have to challenge.

There are better people than me that can write for longer and deeper about self empowerment but I can definitely fly the flag and wave the I AM Enough banner.

It should be our mantra;

I AM Enough.

I AM Enough.

I AM Enough.

I AM Good Enough.

I’m sure men must suffer from the same insecurities although when I asked Mr B once if he felt ‘enough’ he just looked at me quizzically as if it was laughable even  for me to have asked. He went on to say that he’d never thought at all about whether he was enough and wouldn’t be something he’d even entertain.

Maybe we need to take a leaf out of Mr B’s book 😆

I actually designed the t-shirts you can see these amazing women wearing in the photos  originally for International Women’s Day 2022.  I donated some of the early profits to a couple of different women’s charities. Then I set up my own not for for profit social enterprise in September 2022. I had a small launch event on World Menopause Day 2022 and then everything came to a halt with my brother’s death.

2024 Update - I’ve had to really par back all the plates I was tryng to spin since I finally got my ADHD diagnosis. {Learning so much about myself - it’s like being a child again all over}

I have a dream where I’m part of a  massive crowd of women all wearing the tee and each declaring from the tops of their voices ‘I AM Enough!!!”

Imagine … women truly believing in themselves on that scale?

Here’s some of the women who embraced the message me included in there…

I know I’ve titled this post ‘I AM Enough Movement’ – Wear The T-shirt but wouldn’t that be amazing? A movement of strong, motivated women no longer standing for the  age old patriarchal conditioning ?

Shall we start a movement? Shall we?

UPDATE 15/03/2023:I was encouraged in my Instagram DMs to go for it so here goes …

Buy and wear an I AM Enough tshirt  and post a black and white photo of yourself wearing it and tell us what your I AM Enough empowerment message.

PS you don’t have to buy a tee you can just post a black and white pic with the tag #iamenough ✍️

But a tee would be even better 😍

Whatever and however you want to be involved will do for me.

It’s all about supporting one another at the end of the day.

Who am I kidding?

I want it to be a f*%king uprising!!!!!

I want to encourage all ages not just 60+ like me … ALL girls, ALL women, ALL who identify as FEMALE 🙌🏻

Now I’ve read this again and posted it here it’s fired me back up 🔥

Tedx I’m coming for you .. I AM Enough and I do deserve a spot on that red dot!!

Lots of love,