Oh wow for this post, I’m having trouble thinking of a time when I didn’t live up to the expectations of a job or project. I’ve always been the kind of person who’s a bit of a perfectionist and a people-pleaser, so I sometimes will really bend over backwards to make sure that work for someone else is done well, even if it’s a struggle for me. Most of the times when I had struggles meeting expectations, it’s been around meeting the deadline, and it’s always something that I’m communicating about as soon as I realize the problem. When thinking about failing to live up to expectations, truthfully, the main thing that comes to mind is trying to balance life with being a parent. Parenting is hard, man, and it’s the most important project of my life. I want to do so many things like teach my kids to be kind and play with them and feed them healthy food and get them to learn different skills and help them through their tantrums and the list goes on and on and on. But I’m also myself, and for a long time, I just left my own identity to be a mom. I took care of the babies and didn’t hang out much socially (the pandemic definitely impacted this too), and I didn’t work, and everything was for them, but I kind of forgot who I was. I didn’t do any creative work for a long time, and I forgot what I even like to do for fun for myself. Finally now, I’m “waking up” again and doing more things that are mine and not just kid-focused. For a while, I had a job. I did a few very small garden projects. Now I’m going back to school. Whether balancing family with work or school, I’m learning that whatever I do, it’s literally never enough. I could sweep the gross kitchen floor or I could play with the kids. I could make a really nice dinner but then it will take time and the kids will want to watch tv. I could spend more time with them at their bedtime but then I have less time for homework. I want to plan outings and activities but I fall asleep and then someone gets sick and there’s a big project due and something in the house needs repairs… whatever I do, it’s too much and never enough at the same time. So, I’m someone who likes to get things done completely and really well, and the life lesson here is that I have to become a little more zen with never being enough. Accepting that I’ll never be able to meet my hopes for all of the projects I want to do, everything I want to provide for my kids, taking care of the house, school, and keeping up relationships. The goal instead is to choose priorities and try to be true to those.