Good Enough

The idea for this post came from a conversation with some girlfriends about housekeeping. The neverending job of cleaning floors and bathrooms and counters and corners. In preparation for a girls night, my friend texted to warn us that her house would not be clean when we came over, but we would have clean sheets and clean towels. I giggled and sent her an audio message assuring her that 1) we don’t care one bit, 2) I’m sure her house is plenty clean and looks exactly like all of ours, and 3) her children and guests will only ever remember how they felt in her home (which is always SO loved and cared for). I ended by telling her that good enough really is good enough.

And then I had a good laugh because I very much need to take my own advice.

This Hope came out in March of 2022. (Still not over it! Yay!) I recorded the audiobook in April and May of 2022 and planned to edit and release it into the world in the summer of 2022. Well, here we are, quickly making our way to the summer of 2023, and yet, the audiobook remains on my computer, very much not released into the world.

The editing process has been painfully tedious. (Why are mouths so noisy and breaths so loud, and why are there so many mouth noises and breaths?!) It just seems too big of a mountain to climb, too big of an elephant to eat. Like no matter how many steps or how many bites I take, there will still be more mountain and more elephant. And so, I walked away and let it sit untouched for months. But I’m ready to not have this hanging over my head anymore. So I forced myself to open the file today, and today is when the housekeeping text happened.

I realized that I’m so undone by this dang audiobook because I want it to be perfect and not just good enough. But the truth is, perfect isn’t even a real possibility. There will always be a mouth noise I didn’t catch. There will always be a dusty baseboard I missed. There will always be something, and that’s ok.

Good enough is still good.

My floors may not be mopped, but they’re vacuumed, and that’s still good. I may have driven around for an extra 10 minutes after preschool pickup to get my son to fall asleep, because I didn’t want to fight the naptime battle and force him to fall asleep in his bed, and that’s still good. The house is still warm and welcoming. He transferred to his bed and still got a solid nap. Good enough is still good.

And chances are, when we “settle” for good enough, what we’ll get will be really good.

This isn’t an invitation to be lazy and let go of our responsibilities. It’s an invitation to actually enjoy our responsibilities. Good enough is an invitation to do work we can be proud of and not let ourselves drown in the details that don’t matter. Good enough is an invitation to choose joy right where we are.

Perfect isn’t possible, and thank goodness for that, because perfect (or rather, the illusion of perfection - because perfect isn’t possible, remember?) keeps us at arms length. Our imperfections are what bring us together. Imperfections endear us to one another. Imperfections are where we relate, where we bond, where we laugh, where we grow.

The pursuit of perfection keeps us apart. Good enough brings us together.

Good enough is still good.

Good enough is really good.

// Ok, off to take a step and take a bite, friends. Good enough audiobook coming your way, summer 2023!