Last week I published an overview of how January went. I was pretty happy with how I had done working towards a number of my goals.
Perhaps I set myself up for a bit of a regression with that post… whatever the reason, this week came along and had a couple of major frustrations and derailments in the goals areas.
Before we go on… I’m not giving up on all of these goals I’m working on, but I sure thought about giving up on at least a few of them this week. This blog post was almost titled “why I decided to give up on all of my goals.” (That isn’t entirely true, but it was discouraging.)
Since the things I write here are basically a “look into the thoughts inside my head” a generally scary place to look, I thought I would practice some honesty and tell you how things went this week.
Nothing Seemed To Work
I don’t think I’m alone in this, but from time to time I’ll have a week (or even just a day) where it seems like nothing is working. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong.
At least that’s how it seems.
This week I was hoping to have my blog post 100% written by Friday evening. So, I tried to write multiple times throughout the week. I’d write for a while, but nothing seemed to stick. Words came out, but nothing that seemed to be “right.” Oh, and its Friday evening and I’m reworking my first draft from this morning. So I still am pulling this together just before its due. (Update:: it is now 6:30 on Saturday and I’m re-reworking things again.)
I weigh myself each morning. As a person who is focused on losing weight and getting in better physical shape I feel like I owe it to myself. Wednesday morning I realized that I hadn’t lost a bit of weight for a full week. That was a bit disheartening because I’ve been being quite careful about what I’m eating and I’m working out at least three times per week.
Those are the two things that stick out the most, but even in a lot of the other little things of daily life, this week was just a struggle.
Uhm… Why All the Negativity?
Perhaps you’re reading this and you’re starting to wonder to yourself why I’m telling you about how I’ve let the human race down. I get that, I’ve wondered that myself.
Here’s the thing. I’m convinced that honesty is something that is lacking in this day and age. I look at people that I admire for their business achievements or the things that they’ve created or their well behaved family and all I see is that they are doing great. I somehow talk myself into believing that their success in one area must mean that they are really doing well across all aspects of life.
But… I know that isn’t the case.
I guess I’d just like to see more honesty in people. If you’re having a bad day maybe don’t say your day is “going well.” Sure, if its the checkout lady at Food Lion maybe you want to stick to the standard line… but goodness if you can’t be honest on your own blog or podcast or with your family, where can you be honest.
Then there is the standard that I believe someone I look up to is holding themselves to. When I’m looking at it objectively I’m sure that they aren’t perfect. But, thanks to how most of us interact these days we only see the high points in life, the things that are going well. This can be discouraging when I then try to reconcile what I know about how my life and goals are going and how I believe someone else life and goals are going.
The people I respect the most share from their humanity. They fully acknowledge that they don’t always get everything right.
Being “not perfect” makes a person more relatable.
Don’t Get Me Wrong
Now, lest I give the wrong impression, it is important to strive towards the best and to look for ways to improve.
However, don’t give up when you make a decision that is less good than the goal you are striving for. Instead, recognize it, perhaps do a bit of a retrospective to see how to avoid it in the future… but don’t give up because you are now “imperfect.”
I hate to break it to you, but we are all imperfect.
Maybe it shouldn’t, but knowing that no one is perfect is kind of freeing. If the people I look up to and respect aren’t perfect, I can give myself more grace when I’m not perfect.
Conclusion
Well folks, that is almost it for this week. I hope your week was better than mine, but if it wasn’t or if you had a rough day or so this week, be encouraged you’re not alone and no one is perfect.
I did manage to get my video for the week published. In it I take a look at a few reasons why I returned two items that I purchased towards the end of last year. Both items are actually great, but after spending some time with them (and being honest with myself) I realized I really didn’t need them, you can watch that video here.
Have a great week!