It’s ok to be average. Being a good person doesn’t mean you have to be the best.
Well-meaning folks tell us that we can be great, or that we are going to do great things in life. They encourage us when we are down. Perhaps we can be great, but it is a side effect not a goal.
Let me explain. For a long time, I was told I would be someone great in life. I didn’t see that and laughed at the suggestion. Now I realize that they were trying to encourage me in their own way, but they didn’t understand what greatness is. Greatness isn’t being recognized by others. It isn’t even doing something that other people value. Greatness is being content in yourself, and not looking for external validation.
Ok, I hear you saying “That is the same motto as a slacker”. Not at all. A slacker doesn’t do any work and doesn’t have any goals. You can have goals and do work, and not need to create something great. Not all of us are Einstein and those of us who aren’t, don’t need to make ourselves feel bad we are not.
We all have gifts and abilities that help others. We don’t have to fit into a predefined mold that someone else made for us. We can accept ourselves and others and find an internal sense of joy, and not conform ourselves to others’ expectations.
Yes, I know this isn’t easy to do. We have all the pressure to conform and achieve. Achievement means nothing however if you aren’t happy inside yourself. I have seen up-close people who achieved a great deal in life and were miserable. I wouldn’t trade my life for theirs in a minute. I would rather struggle to pay the bills than have everything and be miserable.
Our intelligence, wealth, appearance, or any other ability doesn’t define our worth. Everyone has worth and value. We don’t say a baby is worthless because it can’t do anything, do we? No, we cherish life because it deserves it. In the same way, we are intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, and physically like a baby as well. We understand so little and lack empathy and connection to others just like a baby does. We still deserve to be patient with humanity because one day they may wake up.
Wake up!