Life is Hard, Let’s Just Try Our Mediumest

I tell my kids all the time that I don’t care how they do in life as long as they try their best.
But you know what, that’s the absolute wrong thing to say right now. Sometimes trying your best is just too tall an order. I, for one, currently do not have a drop of trying my best left in me.

So can we all agree that for right now trying our mediumest is just fine?

I mean, in some moments my mediumest feels unattainable and my best is just a dream that sailed away months ago. In so many moments I am trying my least…but at least I am trying. And while we are letting ourselves off the hook let’s also remind our kids and partners and coworkers and family and friends that their mediumest might be all the world needs out of them today.

It will all be just fine.

No human needs to walk around trying their absolute best all the time. It’s legit exhausting.

There is pressure coming at us from every turn and our bodies, soaked in the current stress bath of all the things in the land, are really just trying to keep us alive. We take in a million messages that put us into good old-fashioned fight or flight so just staying in the moment can be tough. Do we really also have to try our best at whatever it is we are doing? Will the world go on if we are not doing our best work at keeping our houses clean or being the perfect worker or working through math homework? It really will. I guarantee this to be true.

For the love friends, today let’s all try as hard as we can, accepting it’s just fine if we are coasting in at a medium, knowing it’s OK if we have only a little tiny bit of try in us or if we are ready to come out of the gate swinging.

Either way, it’s one foot in front of the other. Side by side. Giving grace all around for whatever try each of us is able to bring.

Amy

❤️

If you are with me, head over and buy the shirt here!

trying_mediumest

Amy

1 Comment

  1. Kristin Luce on December 2, 2021 at 10:31 pm

    When I was in high school, I felt overwhelmed when people told me to try my best, because I knew my best was getting A’s, but it was really hard work and didn’t leave me time for anything else. I kept getting A’s and got the valedictorian award, but the first thing I did in college was get a B+. I remember this when I talk to my straight-A daughter, who’s a senior in high school. Each semester I tell her, “It’s OK if you get a B.” I like your “mediumest,” (although spell-check doesn’t). If we expect the best of ourselves, and ask the same of others, we don’t have time to explore interests that are more fulfilling and offer us some relief from the “stress bath” we’ve all been soaking in (I like that phrase too!) for the past few years. Thanks for the great post!