Other than my relationships with people, I have five true
loves; Christmas, Project Runway, chocolate, Pepsi and Pinterest. Pinterest is more of an obsession. I have the app on my phone so I check her
constantly. She is updated so rapidly
it’s hard for me to keep up with her.
She has such good ideas. Every
time I pin a recipe, beauty tip, vacation destination, or inspiring quote I
make a silent promise to be better. A
better mom, health nut, fashionista, cook, photographer, homemaker, camp
director, interior decorator, gardener, comedian and writer. Then I remind myself, while I want to be all
those things and more, I simply can’t do it all. So let me share with you what I’ve learned
about mediocrity.
1. Realize Your Best Is Good Enough. As trite and cliché as
that may sound, it’s nevertheless true. During my moments of inadequacy, and I
have many, I remind myself, “I do the very best I know how – the very best I
can; and I mean to keep doing so until the very end.”
PHAT! Isn’t that a great quote?!? I found it on Pinterest. Haha. I
have realized that I do the best I can and there’s nothing else left. So in the infamous phrase of mediocrity...
When my second son was born, my oldest was
15-months-old. I would wake-up every
morning with a laundry list of things I wanted to get done. I was so disappointed when I got only a
couple of tasks accomplished. Inadequacy
settled in my spirit. I felt worthless, incapable and overwhelmed. One day I decided to log everything I did, instead of list everything I wanted to do. Wow! I
actually got a lot done. By the end of
the day, the list of what I did was ten times longer than my typical to-do
list. When you focus on what you’re able
to accomplish rather than what you’re not, you will be able to leave a sink
full of dishes because you’ll know you did a million other important things
instead.
2. Define Your Non-Negotiables. These are things you do everyday no matter
what. The first thing you have to do is
recognize your core priorities. They
could be things like health and fitness, child-rearing, spiritual-development,
service, education, career, friendships, romantic relationships, church
callings, beauty, hobbies and homemaking.
After you have defined your most important
core priorities, decide on one thing, per category, that if you did every day
you would feel successful.
My Non-Negoitables…
- Take a shower and get ready every day (this
goes for the boys too)
- Work 30 accts (job)
- Spend two-three hours per day on my homework
- Help the kids with their homework
- Read scriptures as a family and say family
prayer
- Connect with the man in my life (whistle)
- Spend time in the scriptures and on my
knees myself
Secondary non-negoitables are going to the
gym and cleaning the kitchen before bed.
I can’t say these are absolutes because they’re the first to go on a
crazy day. I guess you could say they’re
my usuals. Other than those eight tasks,
everything else just gets “fit-in”. So
when the laundry is piling up and I’m late getting Eli to preschool, I take
solace in knowing the most important tasks, to me, are getting done.
3. Get Over Yourself. For years I put on a great show of perfection.
I appeared to have a perfect marriage. My
boys were always dressed according to current trends. Every corner of my house was decorated how
HGTV told me to decorate it. I was
always put together. I magnified my
callings (bigger is better, right?) and I did it all with a smile on my face.
When my perfect hubby left me, my seemingly
perfect life shattered. One of the
greatest lessons I’ve learned through all of this is that no one is
perfect. There is no such thing as a perfect
marriage, perfect children, perfect home and perfect body. I ran myself ragged trying to chase after
perfection and fell flat on my face. So
now here I am declaring to the world that I’M NOT PERFECT! I don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to
raising my boys. My house is rarely
spotless. In fact as I write, there is a
banana peel swimming in a pool of syrup on my kitchen table. I have 856,000,000
insecurities about my body. I worry A
LOT. My bank account is at an all time
low. But you know what? It’s okay.
It’s okay to be mediocre. I feel
free from the shackles of perfection. It’s
exhausting keeping up appearances. I’m
sure it’s something I will always struggle with, but I‘m so much better now,
than I was two years ago.
Now, to be clear that I’m not suggesting giving-up. I’m merely suggesting stop being so hard on yourself. Stop putting unreasonable demands upon your,
already heavy, shoulders. Progress
through life at a steady pace. Realize that along the way you will encounter
detours you didn’t expect. Roll with it,
Baby! Take a look around and redirect your
course over and over again. Your life is
uniquely yours. By divine design it’s
perfectly imperfect. Own it, love it,
mold it but never try and perfect it.
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