Good vs. Good Enough

One of the challenges in my life (probably in everyone's life) is not getting too comfortable. I don't mean that one shouldn't be comfortable -- comfortable clothes are good, a comfortable life is nice, comfortable friends are wonderful.

What I mean is that it's all too easy to accept the status quo, whatever it is, as being good enough. Sometimes the status quo is great -- when the status quo is that Universe Man actually gets up in the morning without having to be dragged out of bed or that Mr. Personality can write faster every day -- that's good status quo.

But all too often status quo is "good enough" and I get used to good enough, even though it's not really good enough.

I stopped taking the reddogs to agility class because the schedule was killing me. In the plan, the trade-off was that I'd be able to spend more time training the dogs, and that I would get to take that time. The reality is that I haven't done any agility training since July. I needed a little time to get my head above the water, and now no training is the "new normal, " the status quo.

And that's not good enough. It's not OK.

Sometimes though, good enough has to be OK. The books are in the bookcases in the boys' room, but they're stuck in there every which way. It's sort of a mess. For the moment, that good enough has to be OK. The boys put the books away themselves, the books are not on the floor, and eventually (hopefully eventually soon), I'll get to it and get the books organized properly.

That good enough is OK. For one thing, the boys are asleep in their room, so it's not like I can do anything about it right now anyway.

The struggle is to be aware of the way things are, to be able to distinguish between good enough and good, and to know when it's not good enough.