Good Enough

“I’m ashamed of it. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody. I’m sick of myself and everybody else that wants to make some kind of a big splash.” - J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey

A little background:

I always knew I would do something great with my life. I knew it. I remember thinking so when I looked in the full-length mirror on the back of my bedroom door. And it wasn’t my fault—there was the whole “I can do anything with Jesus” and dare to dream and “you can do anything you put your mind to.” Plus, I was an excelling third-grader; what could stand in my way?

I told Mitch, “I want to do something extraordinary with my life.” It was a kind of challenge—are you on the awesome train?

Pre-marital Counseling:

Mitch and I talked about conflict with Jerry. We (Mitch and I) had fought just the previous night, interactive learners. I mentioned that at one point in our conflict I got tired of fighting and just wanted to watch a movie. Jerry got excited—that’s exactly what I’m talking about, he said. You will have to navigate your spouse’s otherness the rest of your life and this means conflict. It’s unreasonable to expect to solve things, big things, like his addiction to FIFA, in one night. The trick is to get to a point that is good enough. The point where the pressure’s off and you can go watch a movie or something. Conflict is a matter of years, not days, and it doesn’t need to look perfect. Just good enough.

Rhetorical Questions (sorry):

And I’m like whoa. What if I took this “good enough” thing to more areas of life? What if I hoped that my life would be good enough instead of extraordinary? If I were satisfied with looking good enough instead of beautiful, making paintings that were good enough, living a story that was good enough?