This week’s prompt is a piece of advice you’ll always remember. I’ve received a lot of advice in my life, but if I’m honest, a fair amount of it has come from books or articles or even TV shows. Not so much that has really stuck with me has come from real people. So I had to give this one some thought. Then I remembered a nurse who visited us when my kid was a baby. It wasn’t an easy time. My kid had a few medical issues that were stressful and scary and just a lot, then there’s my own chronic medical conditions and chronic pain, which then had post-partum depression and anxiety added to it. It was a high pressure entry into parenthood, and made it hard to relax or ever feel safe, let alone feel like I could relax. We had a great nurse who did home visits for a while, and I remember her telling me, “perfect is the enemy of good enough.” She went on to elaborate that parenthood isn’t about being perfect. You love your child, you bond with them, you are there when they need you and for the great memories, it doesn’t matter if the laundry isn’t put away or they don’t nap on time or you let them watch too much TV on a rough day. You just have to be good enough to keep them alive, healthy, mostly happy and feeling valued and safe. That’s good enough, and it’s better to abandon perfection in the interest of more time to enjoy your kid (because they really do grow so fast) and take care of yourself. That’s not advice I find easy to follow, but it is advice I try to remind myself of as much as I can.
What about you guys? Have you ever gotten any advice that has really stuck with you over the years? Anything that was just exactly what you needed to hear at that particular moment? Any parents out there who have learned this lesson? I’d love to hear about it!
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That is actually really good advice. I wish I could post comments on your blog.
You can! They just get held for moderation… and I keep getting busy and not getting around to moderating them for several days. So completely my bad!
Great advice.
Thanks! I am not always that good at following it, but it has stuck with me!
I think for a lot of us, it’s a long hard path to learning that ‘good enough’ is good enough.
Right??? Why is that so hard?