Today is the final agreement from the Four Agreements… We’ve already talked about the first three – Be Impeccable with your Word, Don’t take it Personal, and Don’t Make Assumptions. Today is probably my favorite…
Always do your best.
I didn’t say to be PERFECT. I said Do Your Best. In all things. Accept the fact that YOUR best is going to change with circumstances. YOUR best is different than MY best or his best or her best.
Always do your best – Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.
A friend of mine said something to me the other day – “I just feel like I’m letting you down… I’m not happy with myself about it. ” Part of my response was that I wasn’t being let down but rather this was a series of unfortunate events that I like to call… Life. The second part of my response was that I believed he was doing 100% of what he was capable of. Therefore – given the circumstances – the best possible.
{Y’all do realize that my ACTUAL response was considerably more long winded, right?}The point here is that “Your Best” is going to depend on a number of factors that are often beyond our reach and control.
Shit Happens. And when it does, we have to do the best we can with the cards we are dealt. DO YOUR BEST.
If you are overwhelmed by the full moon or PMS or changes in weather or work or health concerns or longer days or the time change or just random craziness, your best is going to be completely different than when you have no worries or fears tugging at you.
If you happen to be up at 11:00 at night with a pukey child and in the morning discover you are out of coffee… your best is going to be completely different than if you were well rested and your partner made coffee for you.
If you are wrestling with insecurities and baggage about something, “your best” is going to be completely different than if your love tank is full enough to crowd out those insecurities and enable your to set down your baggage. {More on that on Monday – Stay Tuned}
My Point is that if you can look at a situation, and feel that you have done your best, then you should be able to sit in peace and know that all is well without allowing any negativity to creep in. {easier said than done – I know} You should ignore the voice that says you should have been able to do more. {easier said than done – I know} That would be like being angry with a child for falling down when they are learning to walk.
If you look at a situation and discover that you did NOT do your best, well then that’s a learning opportunity now isn’t it.
Always Do Your Best. Stop measuring yourself against the “best” of others… or what you THINK should be… or what society tells us we should do. Do YOUR best. It’s your journey and no one else’s.
Thoughts?
I had to pause for a giggle attack at “shit happens”. You did that on purpose.
I absolutely DID do that on purpose 😉 good catch 🙂
This is something my mom always said when we were growing up. The outcome didn’t matter as long as we did our best and tried as hard as we could. I can recall at least one time when I got into some trouble with a class because I clearly was not doing the best I could based on past performance. This is something I try to impart to Phee, too.
I try with my boys… Not always easy when coparenting but it’s the last thing I say when they are jumping out of the car at school. Hoping somewhere it sticks 🙂