Is there a big purpose to life that we are supposed to fulfill or should we just take it one day at a time? Is life all about relentlessly working towards a higher goal or simply enjoying ourselves and being present?

Seems like everyone who has a voice is either pushing one or the other message in the hopes of inspiring and motivating people. That’s a huge change in perspective compared to what I heard while growing up.

As a 90s child, born in an end-dictatorship era in Romania, I believed that the right things to do were to study, be quiet and mind my own business, be the best while not attracting attention.

I have to admit, the 00s took me by surprise when I was first exposed to MTV and teen magazines, boys with baggy pants and girls with belly button piercings. American cartoons, sitcoms and movies blew my mind and made me dream my childhood away in a place filled with confidence, comedy and drama, witty remarks and improbably delightful scenarios.

Why couldn’t I be more like Gwen Stefani or Will Smith – confident, proud, successful and sexy? I wanted to be unapologetic and appreciated, just like them.

Their influence has had a huge impact on me and has brought me to where I am today. I’m thankfully over that phase now. My role models have changed over the years and so has my perspective on looking up to people. In the end, I guess we all love what they’re putting out there into the world, whatever that might mean to you.

I’m still not completely sure who I am, and that’s totally fine. I am changing every day. Even though I stand by my values and needs, I acknowledge that my mind is like play-dough being reshaped by every human I interact with, every book I read or song I listen to – by every thought I cultivate. Therefore, I place great importance in choosing them wisely.

I become more who I am every time I think about it. I am more authentic every time I speak about it, think about it, write about it or even avoid it, everything I love and hate, appreciate and avoid, what I do and who I am.

So here I am now, a few years later, breaking this thick ice that I’ve been slipping on for quite some time. It took so much to get to this point: depression & anxiety, loss & grief, romance & true love, failure & perseverance, success and happiness. I can finally say it now and share it with you:

I am enough.

You are enough.

We are always changing.

We did the best we could with what we had.

We are enough.