Many have internalized the positive encouragement to “Do your best!” Unfortunately, constantly trying to do our best can also become a source of the absence of self-compassion. Until we pause and ask, “What does it mean to do your best?”
Does it mean doing your best:
- At work?
- At home?
- In all our relationships?
- In a particular relationship?
- Physically?
- Emotionally?
- Spiritually?
- In community engagement?
- In volunteering?
You see where I am going?
Many of us judge ourselves harshly for not doing our best.
Fortunately, we can be kind to ourselves and still do our best.
We must recognize that our “best” will look different each day. On a particular day, it might be more important to be the best version of a parent while being a “good enough” friend. On another day, being our best version at work and being a good enough parent will have to do. On yet another day, being the best version of a romantic partner will take precedence over a good enough version of ourselves in other domains.
We will become better versions of our whole selves over time as long as we keep being the best versions of ourselves in one domain a day and good enough in others – provided that we rotate through the domains.
Reframing “Do your best” in this way is key to being kind to oneself and bettering oneself and the world.
[Featured photo credit: Image by Sallman Hayat from Pixabay]
