I’m reading “Rising Strong” by Brene Brown for a book group, well truth be told they are way ahead of me in reading but I do enjoy the discussion.  Anyhow, it talks about the belief that everybody is doing the best they can.  I’m struggling with that.  I do believe people aren’t intentionally doing awful things and that people are inherently good.  I also know that I’m not doing my best.  Not even close.  I think best is what you save for when you go above and beyond.  If I were to try to live being my best every minute of every day, I’d collapse.
  I know this has driven my parents crazy for years, and now that I’m a parent with a kid who is laid back and does things half-assed it drives me insane also.  There was a time in high school that my mom sat me down and said “you are smart, don’t you want to rise above getting Bs and aim for the honor roll?  You could have your name in the paper and it would be great!”  My focus was sports, so I did what I needed to do to get Bs and get by, nothing more.  I agreed to show her that yes, I could do it, and in between soccer and softball seasons I made the honor roll.  Then I went back to getting Bs.  I am fairly certain it drove my parents insane.  The thing is, there was never a question in my mind that I could do it, I just didn’t want to.
   When Carlos goes out on the soccer pitch, I always tell him to have fun and play hard.  I try not to say “play your best” because if he played his best every minute of the game, he would be running around like a lunatic after the ball.  Playing hard, he knows that there are times when he may be jogging back into position or even standing and waiting but doing your best, to me, means giving 110% all the time.
   What does it mean to you?  Do you think everybody is doing the best they can all the time?  I think feel they are doing what’s right in the moment and their best when the occasion calls for it.  Maybe I need different wording but struggling to find it.