HUMANS 101
Choosing To Fail
There’s something really special about a bad bath; and other things
I have had the stomach flu, and the stomach flu has had terrible timing.
It came during my busiest work week — the first full week of teaching — of the year. Without getting into the nitty-gritty here, let me say that I have taken on more than I can (or any person can) realistically handle. But I recently had a baby, and costs are through the roof. You’ve heard this all before, I’m sure. I have taken on too much, and I’m not going to be able to be my best self.
And that’s okay. It’s an opportunity to lean into the “enough” of “good enough.” In fact, when things get overwhelming like this, it can be a great time to decide to do a bad job at certain tasks. One of the most liberating things I’ve ever done for myself is occasionally choose to be the exact opposite of a perfectionist.
For example: I’ll be bad at meditating. “Bad meditating” means I show up to my big red chair, I set a timer for four minutes (a terrible, short amount of time!), I close my eyes and think about my breath, sort of, but also let my mind wander if it feels like wandering. The goal is to put a check-mark next to “meditate.” That’s all.
