is anything really ever good enough?
I remember when I started playing golf. I had a good friend who played. He wasn't a great golfer, but he was a whole lot better than me. I remember going to play with him, and watching him warm up...hitting balls relatively straight and far, but not quite consistently. I remember thinking...that's all I want. I just want to hit the ball well enough to play a decent round. I don't need to be good. I just want to go out with friends on a Saturday morning and not be a spectacle...not be someone who holds the group up and has the ranger yelling at us to speed up.
Well, I got to that point, and I discovered handicaps, and I didn't have a legit one. I always just said '36', because I knew that was the max, and I figured I fit there. Then I thought, it'd be great to be good enough to have a real handicap. I don't care if it's 20 or 30 or even 35..just something that really represents me as a golfer and not just....the maximum, because it's all they can give me. So I practiced, and lo and behold, I got good enough to have a real handicap....so I should be satisfied. Shouldn't I? But no. Once there, I thought, wouldn't it be great if....on to the next goal. Now, when I play with that good friend who put up with me when I was just starting, I consistently score better than he does, and still, I'm not satisfied. Still, there is no contentment. I want to get better, and once I do that (assuming I do), I imagine I'll want to get even better.
So while I'm making this story about golf, it relates to just about anything. Is there ever a "good enough"? Is satisfaction that hard to come by? Once we get to a point where we wanted to be, do any of us just rest on that and say...there. It's what it is and it doesn't have to be anything else? I think we all get there and think..."yeah, but wouldn't it be cool if...." There are some, but they have deadlines. If you try to reach a certain GPA in college and you do that, or even if you don't...graduation comes and time's up... you're done. You don't get to go back and make it better. The things that don't have a specific end though...the things we think can always be improved upon....I wonder if we ever think....that's good enough.
Well, I got to that point, and I discovered handicaps, and I didn't have a legit one. I always just said '36', because I knew that was the max, and I figured I fit there. Then I thought, it'd be great to be good enough to have a real handicap. I don't care if it's 20 or 30 or even 35..just something that really represents me as a golfer and not just....the maximum, because it's all they can give me. So I practiced, and lo and behold, I got good enough to have a real handicap....so I should be satisfied. Shouldn't I? But no. Once there, I thought, wouldn't it be great if....on to the next goal. Now, when I play with that good friend who put up with me when I was just starting, I consistently score better than he does, and still, I'm not satisfied. Still, there is no contentment. I want to get better, and once I do that (assuming I do), I imagine I'll want to get even better.
So while I'm making this story about golf, it relates to just about anything. Is there ever a "good enough"? Is satisfaction that hard to come by? Once we get to a point where we wanted to be, do any of us just rest on that and say...there. It's what it is and it doesn't have to be anything else? I think we all get there and think..."yeah, but wouldn't it be cool if...." There are some, but they have deadlines. If you try to reach a certain GPA in college and you do that, or even if you don't...graduation comes and time's up... you're done. You don't get to go back and make it better. The things that don't have a specific end though...the things we think can always be improved upon....I wonder if we ever think....that's good enough.
Labels: Philosophy
John put this out here at 9:58 AM
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