How Long Have You Been A Martyr?

The Messy Art of Embracing Imperfection




We used to be tougher. Folks get their panties twisted over nothing these days. People are quicker to take offense than a cheetah on Red Bull, turning molehills into Mount Everest-sized mountains of outrage. A slight inconvenience, a minor slip-up, and suddenly it's DEFCON One. We knew how to roll with the punches. Mistakes happen because nobody’s perfect. 

But now, thanks to our fancy technology and need for instant gratification, we want everything to work flawlessly, right here, right now. And when we don't get it? Look out, buddy, you're gonna hear about it. It's like we've forgotten how to deal with even the tiniest bumps in the road.

Take customer service, for instance.

Remember when you could call up a company and a real, live human being would answer the phone? Now you gotta navigate through a maze of automated menus that seem designed by evil geniuses. And even if you do manage to talk to a person, half the time they sound like they'd rather be getting a root canal. It feels like good customer service is as extinct as the dinosaurs.

To make matters worse, people these days have a serious aversion to admitting when they're wrong. Instead of owning up to their mistakes, they double down and start arguing like they're auditioning for a reality TV show. It's happening everywhere, from the workplace to the home front. It's like we've all become experts at passing the buck.

Even writing this piece, I'm feeling the pressure.

I started out strong  with a great title and a clear plan, but halfway through, my brain decided to take a vacation. It's not writer's block, though. It's more like the whole damn world is expecting a masterpiece, and it's hard not to get caught up in that.

The constant complaining and the demand for perfection, it's enough to drive a man to drink. We've lost sight of the fact that life's messy, that it's the little imperfections that make it interesting. Maybe we all need to take a deep breath, relax a little, and remember that it's okay to be a little less than perfect all the time.

After all, as a wise old colleague of mine used to say, "Do you want some cheese with that whine?" Or, as another buddy put it, "Don't cry over spilled milk, dude, just grab a straw."




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