Sometimes Doing Our "Best" is Still Not Enough...

One of the core values instilled in me as a child was that you should always do your best.

I suppose a lot of us are taught variations on this... in the case of our particular family, the underlying lesson was more one of "if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well."

So, in actuality, part of the lesson was also to choose wisely what you got involved with... my father was very into teaching me the value of discernment when I was little.

Although these lessons have mostly stood me in good stead, one of the things that was not ever conveyed to me is that sometimes even our very best is simply not enough to accomplish whatever goal we had in mind, or to achieve some objective.

Whereas I have always tried my best at things I have gotten involved with, the difficult lesson to learn is that LIFE sometimes comes along... and you learn that someone else's "best" is actually far superior to your own.

With Whom — or What — Do We Compete?

We live in this world of eternal competition. No matter what it is we are doing, it feels like we are having to compete with someone else... School, work, income, hobbies, sports...

But is that really the right thing? As that really what gets to shape what our life experience is about?

Although I definitely embraced the value of doing your best, I also seem to have been born without the cutthroat gene that goes with always striving for winning.

I think I learned that best during — and following — college when I was a runner and would often run 10K races every weekend during the "season."

Although I was always doing my best, it was quite obvious that I did not have "top runner" qualities... and even though my personal 10K best of 31:45 was definitely respectable, there were a number of reasons why my best would not likely get better.

Competing With Ourselves...

In truth, most of my adult life I have primarily been in competition with myself. I haven't ever found anything at which I was seriously competitive with the best in that field...

And so, it bears remembering that it might be a lot less frustrating to simply focus on our own best, as it stand separately from anyone else's.

Of course, we don't always get to do that or — at least — we don't always get to have control over the situation. For example, I have a nice retail shop many years ago, and even through I worked hard and did my best for many years... it was not enough to overcome the landlord going bankrupt, immediately followed by a major road construction project on the street in front of our shop, which lasted over a year and interfered enormously with traffic and access to our premises.

All we can do, in situations like that, is shrug and accept the there were circumstances under which our best simply was not enough. The secret is to not grow bitter and angry... fate is weird sometimes, and can seem very unfair. But so it goes...

Thanks for reading, and have a great rest of your week!

How about YOU? Do you believe in doing your best, no matter what? Are you able to stay motivated, in the face of opposition, or even overwhelming odds? Do you choose carefully what you get involved with? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20200716 21:46 PDT
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