I stumbled across this little tidbit the other day while surfing the web and it resonated with me. You see, I'm a "Good is the enemy of great" kind of gal so I was definitely surprised at how liberated I felt when I read this. Maybe it's the season that I've been going through or something, but I've been searching for contentment. I have been actively pursuing it and didn't even realize it. When I read this, it was like a boulder had been taken off of my shoulders. I was trying too hard. I think it was the result of circumstantial adaption. I have been going, going, and pushing and working for so long that I think I didn't realize what it feels like to just be. Just be a mother, not a struggling mother. Just be a lover, not a starstruck lover. Just execute my job, not execute myself for my job.
Like most everything I do, I was already in full-on plan and go mode, looking for what I need to do before the stall even opened for the task at hand! I accomplish one thing and am already looking on the horizon for the next thing. That's how I live. It wasn't by choice but, instead, for survival. I firmly believe that I wouldn't have overcome my adversities without that tempo...but, how do you just stop? How do you know when something is good enough? I thought I'd just get it and everything would magically feel right. Maybe that happens for some people, but it didn't for me. As I reflected on this quote, I realized that a lot of my stress has been a result of my pursuit of perfection. My goals start out innocent enough and then, somewhere along the line, they take steroids and max out on a bench press...or you know, they just explode! I'm not saying that you shouldn't pursue greatness but instead, that you should set out to define exactly what that greatness is so that when you reach it, you can actually enjoy it. It's easy to keep pushing a finish line back and in a world full of pinterest posts, facebook competitions, and bombards of in-your-face examples of how perfect everyone is, I think it's easy to get lost in the pursuit. As for me and mine, I have finally accepted that good is good enough and I'm a lot happier now because of it.
1 Comment
I was the same way until I read something very similar about happiness. It took a lot of soul searching and looking around to realize that for me, slowing down and being in the moment is happiness. I was always rushing to conquer the next thing that I had found that would take me to the next notch. But by not being present in the moment I was missing everything.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
November 2016
Categories |