Day: April 24, 2026

Some days doing the best we can will still fall short of what we would like to do but life isn’t perfect on any front and doing what we can with what we have is the most we should expect of ourselves…Fred Rogers

We live in a fast paced world. From the time that we are born we begin a process of becoming that often involves expectations of the kind of persons we might ultimately become. Our parents guide us through milestones, teach us many of the fundamentals of living and hopefully love us so deeply that we are inoculated with confidence and determination. 

We go through phases of feeling both confident and awkward. We ask questions about the world around us and have the urge to explore under the watchful eyes of the adults tasked with encouraging us to be our best. Expectations both guide and bolster us as well as frighten us. Growing up is serious work and there are often times when we worry that we may not measure up to the dreams that begin to form in our minds. 

I remember having so many questions when I was a teenager. I was unsure of myself and how I wanted to live my life. I had a bad habit of comparing myself to others and being left feeling as though I was somehow less that I ought to be. It would be many years before I finally realized that everyone endures a bit of self consciousness in those growing up years. Luckily I mostly encountered happiness and lots of support during that time to keep me from over thinking about my seemingly obvious flaws. 

There comes a time when we are suddenly deemed to be adults who should be capable of caring for ourselves. Never mind that deep down inside we are so uncertain that we are ready to become the adults in the room. We have triumphs and times when we make so many mistakes that we worry that we will never make it through a lifetime of trying to balance work and family and life in general. We all too often become our own worst critics, noting every flaw in our personalities, our appearance and our attempts at being wise. Little do we realize until later in life that both our successes and our failures contribute to making us better versions of ourselves as long as we are willing to honestly assess who we are. 

Time seems to be so slow when we are twenty. There are never enough hours in the day to do all that we dream of doing. We balance so many duties trying to fulfill our own expectations as well as those of the people that we love. Before we can even catch a breath we find ourselves in the middle of our lives in our forties when we still feel so young but are seen by the world as older people. It is in those times that we have usually begun to understand who we are and what we truly want to accomplish before the clock runs out. With luck we may already be there but even then we will push ourselves to keep up the pace. 

The greatest gift we can ever give ourselves is the willingness to pause and celebrate now and again without a sense of guilt that we are not accomplishing something. We simply exist for a moment and do things that make us happy. For some it will mean camping in the midst of nature. For others it will be a frivolous time just partying and celebrating life. Whatever we choose is right if it makes us feel good about ourselves. 

The days of being old come so much more quickly than we ever dreamed. Hopefully we are able to examine our lives and be proud of doing things our own way. It is in these times when we can honestly assess how we have done but we should do so by understanding that just doing what we were able to do is often enough. It should be a time to celebrate all of the days and nights of our lives knowing that we stayed in the race even when we realized that we were not going to win a prize. Just making it to within reach of the finish line is a major accomplishment if we have been good and honest and loving. 

I am a pensive individual by nature. Even as a child I sometimes over thought about things that I had done or said and wondered if I should have taken a different approach. Introspection has played a big part in who I am. Luckily I reached a moment when I truly liked the person that I had become. I was capable of forgiving myself when I fell short. 

Life has happened around me at a speed so fast that I often wonder how the anxious and self conscious version of me made it this far. I realize that the culmination of every single day, every single encounter, every single decision whether right or wrong has made me the person that I am. I wonder where the time went and worry that I won’t be able to communicate to the people who mean the most to me just how much their presence in my life has given me.

I am content but determined to fix the imperfections of my life that may have hurt someone. I am at a point in my evolution when I tend to focus less on what I need and what others may require to feel safe and loved. As long as I breathe I want to make a tiny difference one person at a time. If I can do that I will have accomplished the best aspect of my dreams. I will do what I can and no longer worry if it is enough. It’s all that any of us can expect.