Why Your Best IS Good Enough

Look anywhere online and you see perfection. Perfect homes, perfect bodies, perfect meals, perfect kids. It’s hard to keep up with it all!

I encourage you to stop trying.

I don’t mean stop trying; I mean stop trying to be perfect. Because those photos on social media and in the regular media? Those are just snapshots of people’s lives–and very carefully curated snapshots at that.

When you see a photo of a well-designed, neat and tidy home, you’re not seeing the piles of papers that your Facebook friend moved to the side or cropped out. And when you see someone with an amazing plate of healthy, nutrient-dense dinner, you’re not seeing the chips and ice cream that are for dessert.

Now I’m not trying to be a pessimist; I’m being real. No one is perfect, no matter how they portray themselves online. So whatever you’re doing that you’re trying your best at? That’s absolutely good enough.

Everyone is different. You have different needs and different likes and dislikes. So what if you don’t love cardio workouts or can’t run a couple miles? Stop beating yourself up about what you’re not doing and appreciate what you are doing.

This is especially true if you’re just trying to establish a new habit. If you’re trying to keep your home more tidy, start with emptying the kitchen sink each night. Take care of those dinner dishes before you go to bed. Once that becomes a habit, start wiping down the counter before bed too. Then slowly work on building a habit of having the entire kitchen neat and clean at the end of every day.

If you want to live a healthier lifestyle, don’t jump into the deep end right away. Instead, start with adjusting your breakfast–just one meal a day. Then pick something unhealthy to cut out of your diet. From there, schedule in time to start walking a few times a week. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy; just 10 minutes will work.

Keep in mind that life sometimes gets in the way, so you never have to be perfect. Maybe you’re not feeling well after dinner so you skip doing the dishes. It’s okay! Or your teenager eats the healthy meal you had prepped. There’s always the next meal!

I know that there’s always the feeling that you “messed up” so you quit the new habit altogether. I want you to resist that temptation and know that it’s okay to take a step back for a moment. But get back at it and don’t worry about being perfect!