The Art of "Good Enough"

Do you ever avoid doing something because you know you won't be able to do it perfectly? I often succumb to the thought, well, it's already messed up, so why bother? I'll never get it the way I want it.

I gave up on perfect in my house. That perfect picture in the magazine took hours to set up. And it's not reality. Perfect is an illusion. Perfect is fleeting. Perfect is unattainable.

"Good Enough" is the new "Perfect". As soon as one item gets put out of place, perfect is ruined. When the room is good enough, that one item out of place is no longer ruining anything. It's good enough.

Good enough means that the room is clean enough to have company over. Good enough means that there is dust on the table, but the toys are not on the couch where the guests sit. Good enough means that laughter runs around the house chasing more laughter with a lightsaber. Good enough means that I am not stressing about the crumbs in the corner of the kitchen but concentrating on making my friends feel comfortable in my home.

I would prefer to make my tomato sauce totally from scratch, starting with fresh tomatoes. The only problem is, using fresh tomatoes doubles the time it takes me to make the sauce. So, I aim for good enough instead of perfect and use canned tomatoes, along with frozen and fresh vegetables. I still control the ingredients, the amount of salt, adding more veggies than most store brand sauces have. It is good enough. It's not my ideal, but it will do.

Good enough means that I sometimes buy stuff that I could make. For instance, I know I can make a good pie crust. It's not that difficult, and I usually have all the ingredients on hand. However, it is time consuming. And I would just rather spend the money on a ready made pie crust and spend my time doing something I deem more worth while.

Let go of Perfect. Perfect will always let you down.

Embrace Good Enough, and you can always achieve your goal.

Personalize this: What Perfect are you holding on to that could be Good Enough? What stresses in your life can you get rid of by letting Good Enough be your aim? What guilt can you let go of by replacing Perfect with Good Enough?

Take it to my kids: Kids aren't Perfect, and never will be. When your kid does a chore, don't follow behind and "fix" it, because that just tells them what they did wasn't good enough. When my 5-year old folded the facecloths, it took much willpower for me to not straighten out the corners. She did a good job folding, and I just had to realize that she worked hard on it. It wasn't Perfect, but it was Good Enough. Give your kids grace and let them be Good Enough.