How to Stop Feeling ‘Not Good Enough’? The Gita’s Advice on Self-Acceptance
Riya Kumari | Mar 27, 2025, 23:20 IST
( Image credit : Times Life Bureau )
You ever have one of those days where your brain turns into a particularly mean talk show host? The kind that reminds you, with relentless enthusiasm, of everything you haven’t accomplished yet? "Oh, you’re still single? Fascinating. Haven’t written that bestseller? Intriguing. Still eating instant noodles for dinner? Love that for you."
There comes a moment in life—sometimes in the middle of a failed job interview, sometimes at 2 AM staring at the ceiling—when the question hits: Am I enough? Maybe it’s subtle, like a passing doubt when you see someone doing what you wish you were doing. Maybe it’s loud, like a voice in your head listing all the reasons you fall short. Maybe it’s just exhaustion, the weight of trying so hard to be someone worthy—of love, success, admiration, belonging. But what if I told you that this entire feeling, this desperate search for “enoughness,” is based on a flawed idea? That you were never supposed to earn your worth?
1. You Are Not What You Achieve
From childhood, we are trained to measure ourselves by results. Good grades mean you’re smart. A high-paying job means you’re successful. Being admired means you’re worthy. But Krishna tells Arjuna something radical: “You have a right to your actions, but never to the fruits of your actions.”
This isn’t just about work—it’s about identity. If your worth depends on outcomes, then failure will shatter you. If it depends on praise, then criticism will destroy you. And if it depends on being loved, then rejection will make you question your existence. But if you separate yourself from results—if you define yourself not by what happens to you but by who you are—then nothing can take that away. You are still you, even when the world does not applaud.
2. Stop Measuring Yourself with Someone Else’s Ruler
“It is better to fail in your own dharma than to succeed in another’s.” In simpler terms? Living someone else’s life perfectly is still failure. Comparison is one of the most effective ways to make yourself miserable. And yet, we do it constantly—watching people who seem ahead, who seem happier, who seem to have it all figured out.
But the Gita reminds us that each person has their own path. A fish is not less than a bird because it cannot fly. A mountain is not a failure because it cannot move. You are not behind just because someone else is ahead. Your journey is yours alone.
3. Your Mind Lies to You—A Lot
Krishna says: “The mind is both your friend and your enemy.” If you have ever overthought a situation until it became unbearable, you already know this. The mind, left unchecked, will create endless reasons why you are not enough. It will collect criticisms like evidence in a courtroom. It will replay old mistakes like a song on repeat.
But here’s the truth: Just because you think something does not make it real. The Gita tells us to train the mind, to master it instead of being ruled by it. And that begins with one simple practice—learning to observe your thoughts instead of believing all of them. When the mind says, “You are not good enough,” pause and ask: Who decided that?
4. You Were Never Broken—So Stop Trying to Fix Yourself
At some point, we started believing that worthiness is something we must prove. That we must become enough. But Krishna says otherwise: “To those who surrender to me, I provide what they lack and preserve what they have.” This is not about external surrender—it’s about inner trust. It is a reminder that you are already complete, already whole. You do not need to “fix” yourself to be deserving of peace, happiness, or love.
You only need to recognize what has always been there. The world profits from your self-doubt. It convinces you to chase an imaginary version of yourself, always just out of reach. But the Gita reminds us: you are already whole. The only thing missing is your own recognition of it.
The Truth You Were Never Told
If you take nothing else from this, take this: You were never supposed to feel like you weren’t enough. That idea was taught to you—by society, by systems that thrive on insecurity, by a world that convinced you to keep proving yourself. But the truth, the one hidden in the words of the Gita, is that your worth is not something to be won. It is something to be realized. So let the world keep chasing, keep competing, keep measuring. You don’t have to. Because you? You were already enough before you ever asked the question.
1. You Are Not What You Achieve
Aim
( Image credit : Pexels )
From childhood, we are trained to measure ourselves by results. Good grades mean you’re smart. A high-paying job means you’re successful. Being admired means you’re worthy. But Krishna tells Arjuna something radical: “You have a right to your actions, but never to the fruits of your actions.”
This isn’t just about work—it’s about identity. If your worth depends on outcomes, then failure will shatter you. If it depends on praise, then criticism will destroy you. And if it depends on being loved, then rejection will make you question your existence. But if you separate yourself from results—if you define yourself not by what happens to you but by who you are—then nothing can take that away. You are still you, even when the world does not applaud.
2. Stop Measuring Yourself with Someone Else’s Ruler
Path
( Image credit : Pexels )
“It is better to fail in your own dharma than to succeed in another’s.” In simpler terms? Living someone else’s life perfectly is still failure. Comparison is one of the most effective ways to make yourself miserable. And yet, we do it constantly—watching people who seem ahead, who seem happier, who seem to have it all figured out.
But the Gita reminds us that each person has their own path. A fish is not less than a bird because it cannot fly. A mountain is not a failure because it cannot move. You are not behind just because someone else is ahead. Your journey is yours alone.
3. Your Mind Lies to You—A Lot
Thoughts
( Image credit : Pexels )
Krishna says: “The mind is both your friend and your enemy.” If you have ever overthought a situation until it became unbearable, you already know this. The mind, left unchecked, will create endless reasons why you are not enough. It will collect criticisms like evidence in a courtroom. It will replay old mistakes like a song on repeat.
But here’s the truth: Just because you think something does not make it real. The Gita tells us to train the mind, to master it instead of being ruled by it. And that begins with one simple practice—learning to observe your thoughts instead of believing all of them. When the mind says, “You are not good enough,” pause and ask: Who decided that?
4. You Were Never Broken—So Stop Trying to Fix Yourself
Self worth
( Image credit : Pexels )
At some point, we started believing that worthiness is something we must prove. That we must become enough. But Krishna says otherwise: “To those who surrender to me, I provide what they lack and preserve what they have.” This is not about external surrender—it’s about inner trust. It is a reminder that you are already complete, already whole. You do not need to “fix” yourself to be deserving of peace, happiness, or love.
You only need to recognize what has always been there. The world profits from your self-doubt. It convinces you to chase an imaginary version of yourself, always just out of reach. But the Gita reminds us: you are already whole. The only thing missing is your own recognition of it.