I have always found it really difficult to stay motivated when I know that what I'm doing is "not enough."
What does that actually mean?
To create an arbitrary example, it would be like knowing that you need to make $100 a day in order to pay a tax bill at the end of next month, but the best your efforts can possibly do is $80 a day.
It's tempting to just give up, but you have to keep at it because $80/day is still better than no dollars a day... even if the end result is a shortfall, no matter what.
Of course, it's not just about money... it could be about building a house in time for winter, or finishing a garden for spring; pretty much any situation with multiple approaches and outcomes, in which in which none of the approaches are capable of providing the optimal result.
It's a situation in which I have found myself... all too many times!
Perhaps it is a situation in which we all find ourselves... I honestly don't know. Regardless, whenever I see this kind of dilemma looming on the horizon, I invariably start thinking about my father and being told that "sometimes doing your best simply isn't enough!"
But much of life is like that, isn't it?
We end up learning how to be satisfied with "not quite enough" because it's at least a better option than "complete and utter disaster."
Although many have been trained/taught by society to believe that "we can have it all," the truth is that most of the time it is still better to have a little of something, as opposed to none at all.
If you doubt that, just consider something basic like water, or food!
But there's a limit... maybe.
Throughout my life, I have learned to repeatedly lower my expectations and downsize my needs, and when I look at the starge world of 2025, I have a feeling that was a good thing.
The "limit" has to do with the reality that there is only so much you can do to make do with "a little."
It's a bit like the infamous (albeit fictitious) "frog in hot water experiment," at some point you will scald yourself to death, metaphorically speaking.
I found myself contemplating that today, as I looked at the reality that there will be "more bills than money" this month, again.
So much for the Clown Show in Washington DC "lowering inflation." Gas in January was $3.99; when I filled up today it was $4.69. Eggs are still $8.69 a carton. Hamburger meat is not over $10 a pound," more than I can ever remember it being.
But... we'll still keep plugging away, somehow. And next time I can save up enough liquid rewards from Hive, I'll be laying in another 20-lb bag of rice, and of dried beans.
On that light note, thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your week!
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Created at 2025.08.19 23:58 PST
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