We've all felt the stifling weight that comes with the pressure of earning self-worth. Indeed, lack of enoughness is a universal human experience that derives from the faulty presumption that we earn our self-worth and dignity through what we accomplish. Unfortunately, this ingrained cultural belief is rarely questioned. So, when I saw Novak Djokovic engage his struggle with self-worth, following his Gold Medal win in men’s tennis on Sunday, August 4, 2024, I felt a deep sense of gratitude and interconnectedness.

Djokovic has been to the Olympics three times prior to 2024. He won the Bronze Medal in men’s tennis in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In a post-match interview on Sunday, he expressed “huge relief” after the win and acknowledged the significance of winning Gold for his country.

Thrilled with the possibility to fight for a gold and win a gold, for the first time in my career for my country. Arguably, the biggest success I’ve ever had.

Djokovic’s focus on self-worth came after the journalist asked. “If this was the missing piece to the puzzle, is your puzzle now complete Novak?

First, he somewhat tentatively said, “Yes. It is. It is.” He followed this with words that exposed the lack of enoughness we all experience:

I mean, I’m telling myself always that I am enough, you know. Because I can be very self-critical. And, uh, I don’t know. That’s probably one of the biggest battles, internal battles, that I keep on fighting with myself, that I don’t feel like I’ve done enough. That I haven’t been enough in my life on the court and off the court. So, it a big lesson for me. I’m super grateful for the blessing to win a historic gold medal for my country. To complete the Golden Slam. To complete all the records, but...

When the journalist followed up with, “Is it enough?” Djokovic again stated in a tentative and humble way, “I think so.”

We all live under the stifling weight of feeling like we are not enough. Djokovic’s post-match interview gives visibility to this pervasive form of cultural confinement.

Djokovic is not unique, individual merit is the way we all assess our self-worth. We are socialized to believe we earn our self-worth and dignity through what we accomplish. At the same time, we are taught to embrace a scarcity mind set. When we live from this perspective, life is a zero-sum game and we are all competing for the external trappings that will finally validate our enoughness.

We live life on a ladder. Where we are on the ladder varies, it is never the same. It is guided by our assessment of self and other within our current life circumstances. We assess things like: skills, titles, education, accomplishments, personal belonging, esteem, affection, sense of power and control, our ability to achieve desired outcomes… The things we assess vary, but human socialization ensures we all have some type of internalized ladder.

We need to name this cultural confinement. To vigilantly recognize this hypnotic hierarchy, in all its forms. Our enoughness is not conditional. We can’t earn our self-worth. Instead, we can learn to embrace our Embodied Enoughness.

Life is complex, it is full of struggles. We embrace our Embodied Enoughness by sitting in the struggle. We are all perfectly-imperfect human beings who shatter due to our frailty. We live with a deep sense of not being enough. At the same time, we are also divine beings who are universally interconnected with each other and all life on earth.

When we live in this paradox. When we engage the numerous ways we react to life circumstances, ourselves, and other people from this space of human imperfection, we face our Tragic Beauty and unearth our divine Amber Glow.

It takes courage to step into our Tragic Beauty. It is uncomfortable and messy. We are taught to avoid this space of ambiguity, uncertainty, imperfection, and fallibility. We are taught to avoid this space of vulnerable, honest, deep, self-observation. We are taught to avoid this space of discerning silence.

Novack Djokovic stepped into his Tragic Beauty. He took a risk, he was vulnerable. He showed us his internal struggle with lack of enoughness. I felt the interconnectedness, I sensed the substance and depth. I was moved by the light of his Amber Glow. I could see it in him, and I felt it light up my Amber Glow.

Embodied Enoughness is a way of being that can be learned. The four pillars – somatic sensibilities, wholehearted presence, dynamic discernment, and luminous living – are the way we embrace our Embodied Enoughness.

You can build Embodied Enoughness into your neural pathways, personal relationships, and communities. You can learn to thrive by: honing your somatic sensibilities; unearthing your whole-hearted wisdom; cultivating your dynamic discernment, and engaging from the space of luminous living.