Can You See Where You Get it Right?

I don’t vacuum as much as I probably should. And sometimes when I see photos of my boys when they were little, I regret I didn’t take more video of them. My pantry is horribly disorganized. And I don’t always pay close attention when my husband is talking.

It’s easy to feel defeated over where I feel I lack—in my marriage, my home, my parenting. It’s easy to see where I get it wrong. But I do get a lot of things right. There are a crazy amount of things where I am stellar. I believe the same could be said about most of us. We get some things right and we fall short (at least in our eyes) in other areas.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to feel more discouraged by where I stumble than encouraged by where I triumph. Can you relate?

I want to change that perception. I want to give myself grace when, in hindsight, I know I could have done better. And I want to rest in gratefulness where I hit the mark, make the memories, am present, show up, do the hard work and offer my best.

Clearly, it’s the healthier way to live and equips us better to learn and grow—this whole concept of having a more realistic and compassionate perception of ourselves. Not surprisingly, it’s exactly what we would tell the people we love. We would assure them they are more than where they fail. And yes, they are more than where they succeed, too. But we want them to have a balanced viewpoint, right? We don’t want the people we love to become paralyzed with their defeat.

We should have the same compassion for ourselves. We genuinely should. Can you see where you get it right?