Perfectionism is my biggest enemy. Everything I do, especially now that I'm older, has to be absolutely perfect. Of course, that cannot always be the case-no perfect individual has walked the earth since Christ himself. Even though I know this to be true, I still find myself growing upset when I can't do something just right with no mistakes.
For instance, today I got a 78 on my Research Methods exam. I know that that is a passing grade, and I'm still proud to say that I have a 94 grade average in the class, but I was so very disappointed in that grade. I was spilling my woeful sorrows to my mother over the phone, when she tells me that "as long as I've done my best, that is all that matters." I have received that speech from my parents many a time in my 20, almost 21 years of life, but it still rings true today as it ever has before.
The idea to always do your best, because that's all you can do, and not to beat yourself up if you, indeed, did your best but didn't have the best outcome, applies to schoolwork as well as a plethora of other things. We are only capable of doing the best that we can. Studying and practice can undoubtedly help us to improve our best, but as the end of the day, our best is still our best, and that's all we can truly ask of ourselves.
