I'm a big fan of mantras. When I was pregnant with Spencer I loved "Do what is necessary, nothing else," which helped me to save my energy when I was tired and overwhelmed by things I couldn't do that I would like to do, and then in labor to help me focus on just doing what I needed to do and not expending energy on superfluous tasks or conversations. The time for that mantra has passed, not exactly expired, but no longer my focus.
I have some new ones now. One is, "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good" by Voltaire which I read in The Happiness Project. I'm sensing a pattern here . . . It's a good message for me. Sometimes I think if I can't handmake an amazing gift I won't even send a card. Not because I don't want to send a card but I think eventually I'll actually finish handstitching the beadwork on that wedding dress kind of project. It's kind of depressing to think big all the time and fail but it's good to remember that the good is not the enemy of the perfect, it's just a little diminuative version of it. After all, sometimes there is success. I will deliberately just brush over that and not list examples . . .
This mantra is really applicable to my blog right now. It's hard for me to get pictures up here, and I really really want to! I love getting my thoughts down on paper, but I don't prefer to read wordy posts from other people most of the time. So I write my ideas down, then kick myself over the length. Not to mention the lack of gorgeous professional photos of my kids and my immaculate house everywhere. I mean, practically speaking, I don't care about that at all! Is my number one priority clean, gorgeous house? No. In that case my house is not immaculate and professionally decorated. But artistically speaking, I'm well aware of the perfect and so many things (everything) falls short.
In the spirit of goals and resolutions though, there will be a higher standard in July when my baby is a year old and I am sleep trained again. I even wrote it down. True.
Thomas quotes from recently:
Mom, you look a little bit evil in the picture I drew of you.
Mom! You smell like sugar!
When I was three . . .
Mom, I forgot; what was I going to say?
Think about that.
I have some new ones now. One is, "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good" by Voltaire which I read in The Happiness Project. I'm sensing a pattern here . . . It's a good message for me. Sometimes I think if I can't handmake an amazing gift I won't even send a card. Not because I don't want to send a card but I think eventually I'll actually finish handstitching the beadwork on that wedding dress kind of project. It's kind of depressing to think big all the time and fail but it's good to remember that the good is not the enemy of the perfect, it's just a little diminuative version of it. After all, sometimes there is success. I will deliberately just brush over that and not list examples . . .
This mantra is really applicable to my blog right now. It's hard for me to get pictures up here, and I really really want to! I love getting my thoughts down on paper, but I don't prefer to read wordy posts from other people most of the time. So I write my ideas down, then kick myself over the length. Not to mention the lack of gorgeous professional photos of my kids and my immaculate house everywhere. I mean, practically speaking, I don't care about that at all! Is my number one priority clean, gorgeous house? No. In that case my house is not immaculate and professionally decorated. But artistically speaking, I'm well aware of the perfect and so many things (everything) falls short.
In the spirit of goals and resolutions though, there will be a higher standard in July when my baby is a year old and I am sleep trained again. I even wrote it down. True.
Thomas quotes from recently:
Mom, you look a little bit evil in the picture I drew of you.
Mom! You smell like sugar!
When I was three . . .
Mom, I forgot; what was I going to say?
Think about that.
Comments