Lately I have been seeing a lot of trying. People trying to make big moves. People trying to become famous. People trying to be the best. People trying to make themselves so much better that it is exhausting them. It is almost like we have become a society where being okay is NOT okay. Where trying is more like struggling and everyone is a part of the struggle. Where just doing your best, even though it is not THE best is not enough. My question is, when did mediocre become so horrible? When did being in the middle mean you were really the last? When did just getting by become not getting by at all.
I built this blog with the idea that being half ass was cool. But just in the housewife department. People may look at things I do and think it is half ass, but it isn’t. I try and I do my best. But I do not strive for perfection. I don’t want to achieve fame and I do not think it is unfulfilling to find myself in the middle. Not first, not last. Just that sweet spot in between. Being in the middle does not mean you are half ass. It just means you are in the fucking middle. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
I see things everyday, especially via social media where you can tell people are trying their hardest to make themselves look perfect. Their status updates are nothing but pure happiness and success. Their pictures are all sunshine and rainbows. And maybe their life is actually like that…..but maybe it isn’t. What is so wrong with showing a picture of your pissed off partner. Or of your kid screaming. Or why can’t a status update like “Started my period today…I feel like a sad, fat pig” be cool with everyone. Again, why is this achievement of perfection so freaking important.
I’ve never had any of my blog posts published…..why, because, #1 I have never submitted and #2, because they aren’t that good. They are full of swear words and typos and people don’t want to see that. I have never been rewarded anything special for my scholastics….in fact, I just failed a class. I have never been publicly recognized for anything really….it doesn’t mean I do not put my best foot forward when I am executing something.
Here is the thing, I am totally okay with not being perfect. Perfection is tiring and life is exhausting enough. Everyday is filled with struggles and battles. Why not talk about them? Whether it is anxiety, depression, frustration, fuck…a bad lay…..why can’t these things be brought up. Why can’t these things be publicized. Why can’t us working, middle class, go to bed early, using frozen veggies, working out twice a week, network tv watching folks be approved. Why is it that that doing things over the top is what people consider “better.”
Why are we teaching this to the next generation. I don’t my my daughter to think she has to be this super skinny, designer wearing, top college going, contoured make-up, duck faced female. And I don’t want my boys thinking they need to play a sport so hard and so much just to get into some top school then work to the grind to make a shitload of money and that is what is considered successful. I want them all to live and experience and fail and pick themselves back up and try again. I want them to fall and bounce back. I want them to be okay with the idea that they are not the best at everything. I want them to know that they are just like me and their dad, shitty at somethings and great at others. I want them to be cool and confident in their middle place if that is where they land. I also want them to know that whether it is first place, second place or last place, we will be proud of them. We will be just stoked that they tried.
I want to bring back trying. I want to bring back honesty. Yeah, I might not adjust my status update to period update, but I will post the good and the bad. Because that puts me right in the middle. Some place we all need to embrace more.