HOW TO FEEL BETTER ABOUT NOT BEING GOOD AS YOU SHOULD BE

Here’s the bitter truth: we will never be as good as we think we should be.
None of us will.
There will inevitably be times when we slip up and fail to meet our (unreasonable) expectations of ourselves.  It’ll likely happen quite often too.  And if we don’t embrace these slip-ups and failures as necessary lessons learned, we will gradually and unknowingly become self-conscious about everything we’re not doing and achieving according to planned.
Honestly, it happens every day to the best of us – we hopelessly catch ourselves thinking about how we’re falling short.

We worry that we haven’t made as much progress as we thought we would.  We worry that we’ll never be as productive as we could be.  And our worrying just leads to more senseless worrying.
We worry that we don’t…

• have better-looking bodies
• get to the gym more often
• accomplish more of our goals
• etc.

We worry that we should be doing…

• something better
• something more amazing
• all those amazing things the people on TV and social media are doing
• etc.

And so, we’re left feeling guilty that we’re not as good as we “should” be – that we’re not doing the perfect thing at the perfect time, ever.
The good news is that thoughts like these are natural, because the human mind isn’t perfect – it worries about things.  But we can learn to catch and control these thoughts, so they don’t catch and control us.

Letting Go of Our “Perfect Life” Fantasies

To an extent, we all have this lavish idea in our heads about how our lives are supposed to be.  We fantasize that we should be living a different and better life…

• A life without procrastination and failure
• A life with spectacular feats of success
• A life of travel and adventure
• A life with perfect friends, family, and partners
• etc.

And through it all we’re supposed to be smiling too, right?
Wrong!  That’s not how life really works.  At least not 24/7.
The truth is, we are miraculously flawed human beings living miraculously flawed lives.  And the “miraculous” part only transpires when we accept and make the best of what we have.
Close your eyes and reflect on the present reality of your life, and whisper, “I am OK.  Life is OK.  I will let my present life situation be what it is, instead of what I think it should be, and I will make the best of it.”
The key is to accept the fact that there’s no such thing as a perfect life.  There’s no perfect thing you should have already accomplished, and no perfect sequence of things you should be accomplishing right now.
There’s just this moment you’re living through and what you choose to do with it.
And yes, disappointment with this moment, with yourself, and with others is often part of the picture – there’s no escaping this reality.
But what will you choose to do…
You can be disappointed in this moment and do nothing, or you can practice being satisfied with the opportunity to make the very best of it.