Growing up, my Mom often repeated the phrase, “the enemy of good is better.” I think of these words often in my days and weeks- typically in mundane tasks like trying to fix my ponytail and only making it worse or tweaking a perfectly fine recipe and ending up with rock hard chocolate chip cookies, but it can be a reminder for the bigger things too.

While I do believe that striving for excellence and pushing yourself to do something better is important and beneficial, I think that this phrase speaks more to being content with what you have and with where you are– because anything else is not necessarily better. The grass is certainly not always greener.

This mentality is almost a form of stress relief for me as it reminds me to be present with where I am and to stop rushing to reach an outcome that may not get me any farther. I think this can easily be applied to greed and so much of our society’s relentless pursuit towards an extra dollar. The chase for more money, more land and more objects truly is the enemy. 

In the larger scenarios, allowing yourself to get so caught up in what’s better and looking to the future to the point of dissatisfaction with where you are is a disservice to yourself and to the steps you took to even be in this moment; of course I am not talking about redoing ponytails anymore. 

If you are constantly looking for something better, how can you live a happy day-to-day life with gratitude and fulfillment? I am not saying that you should not have goals and aspirations, I am saying that you should not let yourself be consumed by what does not presently concern you. Be where you are and be there wholly.

I don’t know what my perfect ponytail would look like. I don’t know the recipe for the best chocolate chip cookie. I don’t know what my life would be like if I were in the next tax bracket and I don’t know what would change if I won the lottery tomorrow. So yes, the enemy of good is better. I love my life. Sometimes we have to leave things the way that they are and find full acceptance and contentment within them, because we don’t know otherwise and frankly don’t need to. Imagination is great, but ignorance is bliss.