You may say you gave it your best, but deep down you know it wasn’t.
You could have done more or done better, but the net result was that it was just ‘okay’ enough to get the job done and, to your credit, that’s still likely more than most people would do.
But settling on some point between sensational and satisfactory is dysphoric for an otherwise truly exceptional performer.
Despite rationalizing about how insanely too busy you were to give it your everything, the day ended leaving you wondering if maybe there’s a better way to avoid the risk of spiraling down to “just okay” in your effort to accomplish all that you must.
This dilemma is everyone’s and it’s the case for pretty much everything noble to which we set our minds and passions.
You enter the task zealous and with good intentions but exit disappointed with less than enthusiastic results.
It’s human to be a self-critic about what you missed and even more human to also overlook the critical parts of what you did well.
Mediocrity is neither aspiration nor inspiration.
Sometimes it just is.
And without a few of life’s mediocre moments, our shining ones wouldn’t look so shiny.