when second best would do

it has been a while since i last had an entry in my blog. can’t blame it on a busy schedule though. i had a lot of opportunities to write a blog entry – but i didn’t. i could not think of a ‘good enough’ topic to write on. every time i had an idea, i tried converting them to words but could not churn out more than just a few sentences. and since i ‘promised’ to make my blog entries more substantive, i simply could not publish half-baked articles.

“Strive excellence in everything you do” were the words i placed in the motto section of my high school yearbook. This saying could also explain the article shortage in my blog. This lead me to thinking – “when i can’t give my best, is it ok to just give the “better” or “good” works instead?”

the drive to do something is sometimes hard to sustain. in some days, i have to force myself to do things i don’t feel like doing but have to do. have to be responsible.

but i’m sure anyone would agree that the quality of work is significantly different when done wholeheartedly than when not. unfortunately, work, or life for that matter, does not always consider your morale. a deadline is always set.

a ‘good’ or ‘fair’ output is better than nothing at all. so, i feel that good should be good enough. but don’t make this an excuse to not strive for perfection. reach for the stars and you may land in the moon. in this situation, second best (or third or fourth or fifth) would do.

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but they say – you never win a silver, you lose a gold. this is why they say second placers are not the happiest bunch of people.

Sometimes, I have worked hard to just fall short of my goals. I know how it feels to know that you were almost there but didn’t quite make it. Not bad, actually. In fact, it feels great to have a “silver medal” to show for the effort. I don’t mind being ‘second best’ as long as I know I did what i could. I am not competing against others, only against myself.