On Being Proud of How Hard We're Trying!

We spend a lot of time focusing on "success" these days.

However, there are a lot of people in the world who sincerely try really hard without ever becoming successful.

I get the feeling that we tend to overlook these people because we have been so trained to look at people's success stories that we don't really notice anything else.

There's always reason to feel good about "doing your very best," even when that "very best" doesn't lead to final success.

Goodness knows, I have tried my very best at accomplishing things over the years, only to discover that what I was doing simply wasn't good enough on a greater scale.

I used to think that it meant my efforts were worthless and meaningless, and that line of thinking would lead to periods of alternating anger and mild depression.

But if you pause and think about it... we really can do any better than "our best."

And there's definitely no shame in doing your best... if you can sincerely state that you did!

As I have pointed out on a number of occasions: Someone who wins the silver medal at the Olympics isn't exactly a slouch, even though they were not the winner in their discipline.

As I have aged, I have grown to derive just as much — if not more — satisfaction from know that I did my best, than I do from actually "winning" at something.

And it's worthy — NOT selfish or entitled — to be proud of how hard you're trying to do well.

It can be something as simple as writing the best possible blog post you know how... and to keep trying, even if your post doesn't end up earning a huge reward.

Heck, I've written almost 1,800 posts here, each time doing my best, and each time knowing full well that my post will be a thousand miles from reaching the "Trending" feed.

But that doesn't for a moment mean that I am not trying, and I will keep trying!

And so, I choose to stick with it, and focus on the fact that I am really trying to do my best!

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

How about you? Do you feel good about how hard to you are TRYING to succeed? Do leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)
Created at 2023.05.06 00:39 PST
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