Demotivator? Not for me!

(Image "borrowed" from here)

Caption: "If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly."

This image is from a series of "Demotivators" -- posters and other misc. items poking fun at the typical motivational pictures that have nice photography and a catch phrase that seems motivational at first but becomes cheesier the more you read it. So, anyway, today I was skimming through the new Demotivators since the last time I checked their site. (Oh, and side note: if you haven't read the Demotivators, you ought to--it's always good for a laugh.) I came across this one, and after laughing I started thinking about the truth behind this. Personally, I have a hard time accepting that I'm not totally awesome at something. I have friends who are awesome singers (cough Britney cough), friends who can surf well (cough Leslie cough), friends who are amazing photographers (cough Nickell or Erin or hundreds of others cough). I have friends who are better at the sports I love (Steph is a way better volleyball player, of course; Liz was better at softball; Leah was better at basketball; and so on). I'm by no means the smartest person ever (in fact, I was commenting the other day that a friend from elementary school got her graduate degree from Stanford in Electrical Engineering, which was after her full-ride double-Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, which came after her perfect score on the SAT--makes my Master's in Psych from BYU seem pretty pathetic). And the list can go on of the millions of things that someone else can do better. Now, I understand that I'll never be awesome at something without lots of practice--I get that. But, being totally awesome at some skill also requires some natural ability. I'll never be a great gymnast because I'm too tall. So, I could spend the next 40 years taking gymnastics classes and practicing like crazy, but I'll never be awesome. 

So, this post is starting to sound depressing and self-loathing, but I swear there's a point! (Thanks for sticking with me thus far.) The point is that this ironically-named Demotivator was actually motivating!! After all, who cares if I'm not going to the Olympics for being the best in some particular sport. Who cares if someone out there is smarter than me, or knows more about psychology than I do, or learns languages faster? Who cares if I'll never be paid to do a photography session, or if my blog never hits 40,000 followers, or if my cake designs are always weak versions of the ideas I stole from the Internet? Who cares, as long as I enjoy doing it?? I think my recent training for this half marathon is a perfect example of how I should always see life. I am not running this marathon to finish in the top 5--I'm running it to finish it. I should not be living my life to be the best at something, but to enjoy it and make the most of it. It reminds me of a quote I'm seeing pop up around a lot of LDS homes, from Pres. Thomas S. Monson: "Let us relish life as we live it [and] find joy in the journey..."  (source) If we are not doing things because we'll never be the best at them, then we miss out. Or, if we do things only to become the best, then we miss out. There will always be someone faster, stronger, smarter, prettier (or more handsome), or who has better-behaved children, smarter children, more athletic children, or cleaner children. There will always be bigger homes, better decorated homes, cleaner and more organized homes. But does it really matter, so long as we are happy with what we have?

Now, I'm sure there are many that know I'm a big fan of self-improvement--not the cheesy, pop-psychology form of it, but improving one's self through continued education, introspection, and willingness to try new things. It may seem like I'm saying you should never try to improve upon your current circumstances but simply be happy with what you have now. I don't agree with that. Instead, I think we should take Tony Horton's advice: "Do your best, and forget the rest." (If you watch a single DVD from P90X, you'll hear him say this at least once.) Do your best, improve yourself, but do it for the right reason and be happy with the best that you can do.

For me, this means that I need to stop peering over my proverbial fence at the neighbors to jealously stare at what they have that I don't or what they can do that I can't. I need to take joy in my own learning process, be happy with the abilities that I have (once I've made them all they can be), and just enjoy my day to day life.

Ironic that all this came from a poster mockingly called a "Demotivation."