Laughing At My Limits

Earlier today I completed a quiz for my Statistics course, but sadly my score wasn’t the best. Not so long ago I may have beaten myself up for posting such a poor grade. Now I kinda look at it and laugh, yes laugh. I’m pretty sure that many of you may be wondering why I would do that. A lot of folks live by the motto of always doing your best and winning at all cost. But I’ve discovered sometimes I just can’t live by that ideal.

A long time ago, I realized that I am human, finite, and fallible. That despite what strengths I process, I also process just as many weaknesses and that the most important things is that’s okay. Too many times we run around creating this image of ourselves that have nothing to do with who we are. That it’s nothing more than a flimsy façade of who we think we are.   

You may think, “That’s all fine and well, but the world today is built on how the product is packaged. You need to get with the program, dude.” But as I have said many times before as John Lennon said so well, “I just had to let it go.”

One of the major problems in my life was trying to live up to the ideals I thought everyone was looking for; to be the perfect friend, to be the perfect son, to be the perfect employee, to be the perfect husband and father. What I learned is that I couldn’t be anything more than what I am. That beating myself up for not living up to those ideals was killing my soul.

There’s a lot more I could write on this subject, but for now, don’t let the image you have built destroy who you really are, human. Along those same lines, don’t let what you see in the mirror condemn you to being any less than what you can. I may freely admit to my faults, but that doesn’t limit me bettering myself.  


Don’t take yourself too seriously know your limits and put people around you to help with those limits. Who knows that fallible person you see in the mirror may turn out to be your best friend.     

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fail-Safe

Image
Through the paper-thin walls of this old house, I can hear my neighbors getting ready for another day. Laying here remember when I used to do that, working at night so I could take care of the kids, while my wife went to work. Yesterday sorta marked a tipping point for me I suppose. I finally got my consultation with the gastroenterologist. So we are working the set-up some tests my primary care physician has been wanting for me to have for months. While I would love nothing more than to tell my PCP, “I told you so”. But I suppose knowing is better than not knowing. Although I do find some comfort in ignorant bliss.  I get the impression some people feel I am an optimist. But I like to think of myself more as a realist. What some may mistake as optimism is actually nothing more than analytics. Where I breakdown a given situation and create a solution. That may sound cold and frankly less romantic. But you must understand, after living so long in a void of no emotion (du...
Read more

Child in the Sixties & Seventies

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned being a child in the sixties. Well just today a dear friend of mine reminded me about some of the things we had to do back then (1972) compared to today's average 10 year old (2012).  First you have to understand we had no cell or smartphones, internet, personal computers, or digital anything. No music downloads, CD's, DVD's, Dish Network, cable TV, or VCR's. By '72 I think we finally got an ABC station giving us 4 TV stations to pick up by the rabbit ears (ask your Grandparents). Also, if I remember right, we got our first color TV around '72, a 19" portable Sears Brand TV.  But before you sit there and think, "God, what did you do all day?" In the afternoons and summers we played...outside. I know it sounds crazy, but our parents your Grand & Great-grand parents let us outside. We all had bikes and after breakfast we hit the door not to be seen till dinner time. I was blessed to have grown up on a dead ...
Read more

A Little Poem

Morning Rain. Watched it begin to rain this morning Light, then heavy and strong And from my limited view I thought How perfect I lite my pipe and drank my joe Watching the smoke rings As they hit the top of the pouch and thought How perfect Looking out I thought of nothing Simple watching the raindrops Come over the edge and hit the steps, thinking How perfect Even from one's limited view, one can see perfection It may be a bird on a branch, or a child at play Still, it is perfection In such an imperfect world How perfect FD Thornton, 2012
Read more