Back in 2015, I was incredibly broken.

I managed to conceal the fact that I was functioning through a nervous breakdown.

It seemed everything around me no longer made sense but I still worked hard to put up a front to continue life as I thought was expected of me.

My attempts to seem like I had it all together appeared to work until one day I hit a wall.

My body physically gave up on me.

What started as an ear infection balled up to many other medical conditions including a resurgence of what I thought was childhood asthma.

I spent close to 4 weeks in bed, and this was all during the Christmas season.

During that time, my life began to change.

I couldn't do much in bed except think and read. So that's exactly what I did.

I read The Gifts of Imperfection by Dr. Brene Brown.

I began to question my current reality.

I began to let go of certain ideas, and when the new year hit; I sat up and made a plan.

Dr. Brown's work centers around shame and vulnerability and our journey towards wholehearted living which authenticity, it is shown, is an integral component.

She posits that shame is a negative emotion. It underlies our inability to wholly see ourselves and buffers this idea that "we are not enough."

Step 1 to a more mindful existence is the acceptance that we are indeed ENOUGH.

I believe that telling ourselves: I am enough; I am worthy of love and belonging, is the most important thing we can say to ourselves.

Today, choose this as your mantra. As we have learned in the past, how we talk to ourselves is responsible for the reality we create.

Now repeat after me: I am enough; I am worthy of love and belonging.

Keep repeating this until you actually believe it. Also, I suggest you learn more about Dr. Brene Brown. Start by watching her Ted Talk and download the 10th Anniversary audiobook version of The Gifts of Imperfection. It was just re-released with her actually reading the text to us.