Smart cookie!
The other night, I broke open a fortune cookie that offered up more wisdom than anything I’d read online all week: “Be gentle with yourself. You’re doing the best you can.”
It stopped me in my tracks. Not because it was poetic or profound, but because it was plain-spoken and true. A reminder I didn’t know I needed.
Like most people I know, I drive myself hard. Working, achieving, creating, fixing things around the house, keeping the yard looking decent, remembering birthdays, answering emails, feeding myself something green and healthy. If there’s a spare minute, I’ll squeeze in a walk or do a few squats while the coffee brews. It’s a full life, but it seldom feels balanced.
More often than not, the day ends with me lying in bed thinking about all the things I didn’t get to. The tasks that got bumped to tomorrow’s list. The texts I forgot to respond to. The appointment I still haven’t scheduled. And it’s so easy, in those moments, to slip into self-judgment. You should’ve done more. You should’ve done better.
But then this little slip of paper comes along—probably printed in a factory along with the soy sauce packets and the takeout menus—and tells me: “Hey. You’re doing the best you can.”
And I believed it. For once, I believed it.
The world doesn’t stop spinning if the laundry piles up. The earth doesn’t tilt off its axis if I skip a workout or forget to take out the trash cans. I’m human. I get tired. I need rest. I need grace. And that’s not weakness. That’s wisdom.
So here’s what I’ve decided: I’m going to try being as kind to myself as I am to the people I love. I’m going to treat myself like someone worth caring for. I’m going to say “good enough” a little more often, and mean it.
Because the truth is, most of us are out here doing the best we can. And if that’s not worth a little gentleness, I don’t know what is.
What about you? If this hits home for you too, I’d love to hear about it. What’s been overwhelming your days lately? What helps you shift out of the “not-enough” mindset into a little self-kindness? We’re all in this together, doing our best. Let’s remind each other that it’s more than enough.
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Well Street
I applaud your efforts to hold yourself up the way you do your loved ones. You're absolutely worth it.
The trap I fall into is determining what doing my best looks like. "If I were really doing my best, I'd be accomplishing A, B, and C, and then a whole lot of X, Y, and Z. When that's all done, I'll have earned some grace."
A former coworker liked to say, "'Good enough' is the new 'perfect'." I like that balanced perspective, and it would make a good fortune cookie message.
Slipstream
There's always so much to do, it's hard not to feel like we're not stepping up. But at some point, we have to draw the line and say, it's good enough, and we must be good with that. Not just say we're good, but to truly feel it.