7.25.2012

how do you do your best?

there is so much you can read about how to have a better work life, home life, relationship life, financial life.  so much.  you can get tips for simplifying, asking for a raise, getting rid of your junk, helping your baby sleep, and on and on.

i love reading books and blog posts and magazine articles about this kind of stuff.  they're all about how to be a better me for myself and for the people i love.  after all, even helping-your-baby-sleep-advice is more about the parent than the child.

here's what we have to remember though:  even if we get everything just right, even if we're more grateful, less materialistic, more confident, less confrontational, more outgoing, less busy, even if we're the best self we can be in any given moment:  we still can't control what other people do in response.

and that's okay.  it doesn't mean we should stop trying.

i think it just means that the goal of all this effort can't be to have a perfect life in which everything turns out just as we envision with a perfectly balanced calendar, a big fat paycheck, a fabulously organized hall closet, and a baby who sleeps through night from day 6.  because we'll always be disappointed if a perfect life is the goal.  it ain't happenin'.

for me, it's more about a mantra we've had in our house for the past five months:  everybody do their best.

i'm curious:  what are you working on these days to "do your best?"

2 comments:

  1. "Everybody is doing the best they can" has been a mantra of Marshall's and mine since we got engaged. In the past 2+ years, there has been so much about our own lives and other people's responses/actions that seemed not only baffling, but completely out of our control. Like you said, it didn't mean we stopped trying for balance and happiness, but we did have to understand that perfection was just not an option. Whew!

    ReplyDelete
  2. If you look for perfection, you'll never be content. - Tolstoy
    I try my best everday in what matters to me most, some things fall by the wayside. When I am trying my best, I have sincerity. I guess that's how I know I'm doing my best.

    ReplyDelete