Day 2,543 —Always Do Your Best— (with Red Leaves)

Thinking about this last agreement as I was running today, it was finally nice outside! I didn’t have to wear any extra layers, and I was able to comfortably leave my gloves at home. 

I started the run listening to an audiobook, but a short time later I turned it off. The traffic sounds can aggravate me, but the morning bird noises do nothing but relax me. I need to do more headphone free runs! 

Only a few days until I will be running in my first in person race in over a year. The last in person race I did was the Kirkwood Turkey Trot in 2019. Part of me is concerned about my time, but I am going to just do my best. 

So, this is the advice that often you hear adults give small children before sporting events and particularly hard assessments. 

When I used to hear this as a kid, it would always frustrate me because I would think, “What does that even mean? What is my best?” For someone like me who can have a lot of variety in their performances this can be particularly frustrating.

        I remember my soccer coach describing me as a goalie as the guy, “who might be the best in the world on some days, and on other days cannot seem to block anything.” 

My wrestling coach said something similar to the local paper when he described my prospects at state, “Daniel could win the tournament depending on how he shows up that day . . .” I was frustrated because everyone acted like I was in control of it. Like somehow certain days I cared and other days I did not, but I was hardly the driving force behind those divergent performances. 

So, throw that old phrase, “do your best,” out the window because for most of us it is too cliché to still contain any meaning. I wish I had a better phrase, but this is the best I can do, I would suggest —always try— I know this phrase isn’t perfect, but for me just trying in a lot of cases is going to be my best but taking that extra step to qualify if my attempt was “my best,” just causes me a headache. My mind would look back and say, “Daniel is that really your best? You have done so much better before. What is wrong with you? Don’t you care?” 

Try to have a good day out there! I’ll do the same.