“If you want to live a life full of joy, then you have to break up with perfect and fall in love with good enough.”

In an industry that’s instant and wants everything right now, in a world where we always feel behind and the to-do lists never end, in a world where life is constantly throwing curve balls, what can we do to live a life of joy? And I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

You may have noticed that I took the entire week off from blogging. And while it wasn’t my intention to do so, it was SO good for my soul. To spend time with Randy, and not worry about what was still left on the to-do list. And so, when I read the above quote this week, I just knew a break was in order.

You see, I’m an achiever. We set impossibly high expectations for ourselves and then feel defeated when we can’t meet them. In a world where there’s never enough time, where we’re constantly playing catch up, we still want to say yes to every coffee date, every email, every event. We want every wedding day timeline to run smoothly without any hiccups, we want a clean house with fresh groceries in the fridge and we want to turn our images around overnight. We’re running at an exhausting pace, and demand perfection from ourselves at every turn.

But perfect isn’t real life! Perfection shouldn’t be the chains holding us back from being joyful. We’ve gotta break up with perfect, friends. We need permission to just do the best we can with the cards we’re dealt, and re-wire our minds to focus on all we have, instead of all we have left to do. Life will throw curves. It’s how we handle them that demonstrates our true character. Let’s fall in love with good enough and intentionally choose joy.

Let’s close the laptop, even when the inbox doesn’t read zero. Let’s ignore the alarms, notifications and reminders, and take a walk outside, even when the to-do list inside seems to be multiplying in front of our eyes. Let’s say yes to good conversation with friends, yes to volunteering at church and yes to each other. Let’s wipe out the notion that joy comes from circumstance, and instead accept that it’s a condition of the heart. Let’s take control back from our calendar and be intentional with our time. Let’s say yes to the things that will bring perspective, the things that remind us just how blessed we are, and let’s share that light with others. Let’s choose joy.