Not doing my absolute best

A not-so-yummy glass of good enough

See that right there? I just drank that. It is magnesium, which helps pregnant ladies avoid constipation (among other things), and I've been avoiding this time around, trying to make do with All Bran and other fiber sources. But it isn't working well enough to spare me some serious pain every 3-4 days. And it just happens to be the new poster child in my life.

Because a short, but particularly insightful Facebook chat exchange (thanks, K) last night helped me realize that, as the birth of this child approaches, one of my personal challenges will be that I tend to be too idealistic. I tend to try to do my absolute best.

Actually, no, I tend to look around at what all the others in my sort-of position are doing (and saying they've done) and try to do our collective absolute best. Which is when I get in trouble. In fact, it is that I'm not just settling for my own best, the best I can do given the circumstances, which gets me into trouble. Or at least pain and suffering. And I don't have to wind up there.

I can take the magnesium and stop trying so hard with the fiber. I can say "ok" to the C-section when the time comes before I've put myself through 17 hours of screaming from back pain (because whoever that infamous "I had an orgasm during a home birth" woman is, I'll bet you a lot of money she didn't have a herniated disk. Good for her! But I do, and allowed to take myself out of that particular pressure).

But I need to practice this "good enough" stuff. Preferably on many small situations, before that c-section decision comes. Which is why I just finally broke open the magnesium tablets, and why, by the end of the day, I'm going to pay to skip past a particularly hard level of Candy Crush. Yes, I play it, a lot, kind of like I used Bejeweled Blitz 4 years ago to get through the discomfort or insomnia times. But I'm also approaching it like the purist I somehow like being so much - pshaw! I won't give these people money just to go past a level, I'll just wait it out and if it takes me two weeks, then somehow I'm all the more principled (and high-and-mighty) because of it.

Nope. Not this time. I've stopped playing part of the game because I now dread it - that level I can't get through. Ding, ding, ding! Trying too hard, rather have the fun of the game back, gonna pay the $0.99 to get it back. Because that is my reality and what will make it fun again. For me. And that is what I need to practice.

So if you'll excuse me, there is a "good enough" hotel I need to book for a night in the mountains, one that isn't perfect, but that I won't have to search hours for. And by then, I'll be ready to lay down that $0.99 for my fun back.