No Apologies
Every day at 4pm, Mary Lucia of the Current plays a “No Apologies” track. One day, it was Meatloaf’s “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” which I sang to my bewildered kids at the top of my lungs. I hadn’t even known I knew all the lyrics.
I was reminded of this idea of no apologies when I read a piece on failure by Elizabeth (Eat Pray Love) Gilbert in the 10th anniversary edition of O magazine, which I borrowed from the library. Yes, I sometimes read O. Turns out I’m their demographic. Guess what? Not gonna apologize for it.
Anyway, the piece isn’t groundbreaking or revelatory.
Can we lighten up a little?
As we head into this next decade, can we draft a joint resolution to drop the crazy-making expectation that we must all be perfect[?]
But I liked what I was left with when I finished, which was the sense that not only should be expect to fail and forgive ourselves for it, but we should laugh at our ridiculous expectations of universal success, and maybe even actively embrace failure. In that spirit, then here is a short list of things I’m currently failing at:
1. cutting back on caffeine and sugar
2. keeping my house minimally clean (e.g., ungross bathrooms)
3. blogging regularly
4. managing money
5. weeding the yard (not only did our thistles spread, then flower, but they went to SEED)
6. being even tempered with my kids and not calling them idiots on occasion (deserving occasions, IMO, but still)
7. keeping up with my online feed reading
8. managing my inbox (1300 in my home box, dunno how many in the blog box)
I’m sure there’s more. I’m far from perfect. I don’t get it all done, or done well. And I’m not going to apologize. So there.
July 27th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
We can be imperfect together.
Also, I frequently turn the radio up at 4 p.m. to hear what the No Apologies track of the day is. Didn’t occur to me to make it my theme song!
July 27th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Wow. We are failing at the same things. I was keeping up with my inbox until I dropped and broke my iPhone. I actually have to wait until I get home now to check my e-mail. And my new phone won’t arrive for 7 to 10 business days.
I’m also failing at cutting down on profanity (I drive on Houston highways for Pete’s sake) and cutting back on alcohol consumption (this is officially the summer of Moose Drool beer … don’t laugh until you have tried it).
July 28th, 2010 at 9:28 am
I just wrote a similar-minded post on my other blog before reading this… I’m with you all the way!
July 28th, 2010 at 9:37 am
I have given myself two major get out of jail free cards while I am still working so hard and parenting the two small children. One is a tidy house, one is exercising. Sadly the latter has a substantial knock on effect, but it is what it is. Right now it is just not a priority, spending all the time I can with the children, is.