I've never truly understood how some people have an aversion to work. Honestly, work is one of the most rewarding things in all of creation. The pure satisfaction of looking back on the hours of labor poured into a project and seeing a finished product resulting from near nothingness... it's exhilarating! I know, not all work yields such rewarding or tangible products, but accomplishing something is still worthwhile.
But there are some (many) who avoid work like the plague. There are a few who I've met that I seriously doubt if they've ever sweat a bead in their entire life. And then they complain that they don't feel any sort of fulfillment in life. How strange...
If you've never worked hard, not only will you never get something rewarding from your efforts, you'll also NEVER be able to fully appreciate one of the sweetest creations in life - VACATION!
Vacation is the most amazing concept. But it's only fully realized when you've put in everything you have into your work. After all, what is rest if you've never known real work?
Well, I just had a mini-vacation this past week. I shot up to South Carolina to visit my lovely sister. She's has two amazing blogs that you all should check out if you haven't. One is personal - Click here for that! And the other she showcases her astounding talent at baking cookies and other confections - Grab napkin and drool.
This vacation was filled with sleep, playing Pokemon on my phone, and drinking LOTS of coffee while spending time with my sister. Not the worst vacation I've ever had. In fact, we were even productive in beginning to restore my old laptop. It'll soon be re purposed as a dedicated emulator hub for video games.
I know vacations aren't supposed to be productive, but I can't help myself.
But here's my real thought - Work: aren't we supposed to be excellent at what we do? This may just be me, but I've never felt as if "Good enough" is a viable option. I know that "good enough" often has to do in a pinch since we only have so much time and energy and options. But my desire is to do something truly EXCELLENT! I have the burning need to master something. Anything!
This causes me to be frustrated at either my lack of time, talent or patience because all of these factors limit my ability to create the perfection I see in my brain. Too often, my impatience has hurried my efforts and derailed my work's quality, no matter what I'm doing. Even when I write, my hastiness demands that I do everything with a single draft. I don't revise, I don't go back over. I just attempt perfection on the first try and let the chips fall where they may... Not the best strategy, I know.
Sometimes I imagine how amazing my words could be if I had the patience to hold onto a thought until it became a gem polished by intense thought and revision... I may not know this concept until later in life, again, due to my impatience.
BUT, what frustrates me the most is to realize that I may never truly master ANYTHING in this life. The painful truth is that there will always be someone better at everything than me... Someone faster, stronger, better, more detailed, more articulate, smarter, better looking, richer, more charismatic, etc...
This thought bereaves me with anguish. It makes me feel as if all my efforts amount to nothing. How can I gain recognition if I'm not the best? It's not that I feel I'm without skill. In fact, I have some excellent skills in many different areas. I've become a Jack of all Trades in a sense. Good at many things, master of none. I'll do in a pinch, filling in when the master is unavailable, but I'm not the first draft pick.
This is why I love vacation. On vacation, I don't expect myself to be anything. I don't have to be the best. I don't even have to be "good enough," I can just enjoy what I'm good (or not so good) at and leave it at that. For me, that's the best part of rest. It's not the work that bothers me, it's the comparative concepts associated that brings about the stress of the job.
Striving for perfection is in and of itself a flawed pursuit. I need to learn to strive for improvement instead and just try to do better each day. Learn, adapt, grow. Forget the pressure to be the best, the pressure that I heap on my own self.
How will you improve today? May I suggest, be a better blog reader - leave a comment. Even just to say "HI! I read what you wrote."
"LOTS of coffee" is an understatement. Pretty sure I didn't sleep at all on Sunday night, but I guess that's the price I pay for deciding "hey, I should have 6 shots of espresso" at 8:00pm....
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of "being good" at something has more to do with perspective. Yeah, there's always going to be someone who can do something better than you, but there's also always going to be someone looking up at you thinking "I wish I were that good at that" just like the person you're looking up to used to (or still does) look up at someone else who was better than them.
Striving for improvement is important, but it's also important, I think, to be content (not exactly the word I'm looking for) with where we're at. When we start comparing ourselves to other people, that's when we run into trouble and get discouraged.