Christmas Eve Jitters.

Hello everyone!

Before I get into the meat and potatoes, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas Eve today and a Merry Christmas tomorrow. For those of you who don’t celebrate Christmas, I wish you a Happy Holidays. I hope that the holiday season is enjoyable as you spend time with family and friends.

I didn’t plan on blogging over the holiday, but I wanted to share with you something that happened today:

 

I was decorating cookies (as some of you may have seen on my social media) and I just increasingly became stressed out and I started to have a mental breakdown. I at first didn’t really understand why. After removing myself from the table for a while, I realized that I was getting frustrated at how many of my cookies weren’t exactly how I wanted them to be, and it was making me frustrated and really sad.

I realized how similar this feels to my life, as oftentimes, I have this “exact” picture of how I want to live that gets messed up.

 

I want my life to portray an image to those around me with perfect borders, a perfect picture, and the right face…

Just like I wanted my cookies to look.

 

However, once I took my step away from the table, I realized how unenjoyable and unrealistic a life like that is.

I know that art isn’t one of my talents, and although I put much care into my cookies, most of them weren’t close to what I wanted them to be.

I also know that life is hard. Although I put much care into everything that I do, life often ends up not being what I thought it would be.

 

I’ve learned that striving for perfection is good, but expecting perfection 100% of the time leaves me feeling empty.

Shoot for the stars, but know that the stars are rare.

 

The cookies I decorated may not be perfect, but I tried really hard to paint the picture I wanted to put on each cookie.

And a few of them were perfect.

 

I always try to paint the picture I want to paint in my life, but it often isn’t 100% clear or the picture I wanted to paint.

But when it’s perfect, it’s beautiful.

 

All of us can paint a beautiful picture.

We all have unique and wonderful qualities that we can use to be the best we can be.

 

Basically, what I learned today is this:

It’s hard to always be your best, but it feels good to always try your best.

 

I know I’m not perfect.

I know better than to expect perfection.

 

Instead, I should always do my best.

And whether it’s a cookie I paint, a conversation I create, a blog post I write, a hug that I give, or simply a breath I breathe, it won’t always be perfect.

 

But it will be my best me.

Every time.

 

Happy Holidays, everyone.

 

Happy.

 

NS