Settle For A Life Like This (Instead Of A Perfect One)

David Straight

Settle for the fact that most of the time, you’re just going to have no clue what you’re doing. That doesn’t make you a failure. It makes you a person.

Settle for the fact that sometimes you’re just going to feel weird around people, even people you really like. Because socializing can be really hard. At least you’re here, at least you’re trying.

Settle for the fact that sometimes you’re just going to be a bad friend, or a bad husband, or a bad girlfriend, or a bad parent, because we’re all human, and it’s impossible not to screw up. Settle for the fact that instead of trying to be perfect, what you have to do is learn to take responsibility for yourself and your mistakes. That’s way more important than being perfect. And it’s actually possible.

Settle for the fact that sometimes you’re going to cry or feel anxious for a very specific reason, and sometimes you’re just going to cry or feel anxious for no reason at all. Because the brain is just like that. This doesn’t make you weird or messed up – it makes you like everyone else.

Settle for the fact that the little moments will feel important someday, even though they feel really mundane right now. Settle for the fact that when you boringly drive to work and you boringly sit in the car thinking about your life, you’re boringly learning more about who you are, moment by moment.

Settle for the fact that when you have a boringly sweet and boringly heartfelt conversation with a friend, you are bonding over your shared humanity and your shared everyday-ness. Maybe the conversation isn’t life-changing, but it’s a real little moment that adds to a real little friendship that might become an important friendship when suddenly ten years of these boring little conversations have come together.

Settle for the fact that you’re going to be average at stuff. Because if you were effortlessly good at everything, your life would be more boring than you can even imagine. Settle for being average at some things because it allows you to appreciate the people who are really good at those things, especially when those people are people you care about. Settle for being average at some things because it makes the things you’re good at that much more exciting and thrilling.

Settle for a life that’s wonderfully ordinary. Because when you look closely, all lives are overwhelmingly ordinary. They just happen to be filled with a lot of little, extraordinary moments (if you do it right). Thought Catalog Logo Mark

I’m a staff writer for Thought Catalog. I like comedy and improv. I live in Chicago. My Uber rating is just okay.

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