Every Day is a New Opportunity to Do My Best

I really used to beat myself up for not accomplishing certain things, or meeting certain goals. Perhaps even worse than that, I suffered from all kinds of anxiety, worried that something I was trying to do would not work out. It seems to me that a lot of people do this. I guess we all do it. We spend too much time -- which means any time at all -- wishing we had done, or could do, better than our best. By definition, this just is not possible.

There is one thing I know for certain, and that is that all of the worry and anxiety did not do anything to help me accomplish what I wanted to. It all just made me feel bad, which actually made it less likely that I would succeed than if I had been completely clear headed and focused on the task before me. Worrying that I would not do my best, or that my best would not be enough, made it much more likely that this would become my reality.

The fact is, all I can do, every day, is my best. Then I need to accept that I have done it and move forward. Every day is a new opportunity to do my best.

It took me years to reach this simple realization. Then, it took many more years to internalize it, to train my mind to really believe it. Today -- most of the time, anyway -- I think about each day and do my best with it. Either things work out or they do not. If they do not, it does not help anything for me to beat myself up about it; the best thing for me to do is start thinking about tomorrow, and how I can make it as successful as possible -- how I can improve the things that I did not get totally perfect today, or move on to totally new things.

I still struggle with this at times, but the more I think it and remind myself, the easier it gets, and the happier I am.