You Suck (and so do I)

You’re human. Inevitably, you suck at something. Maybe it’s cooking. Maybe it’s public speaking. Maybe it’s skydiving (so don’t do that.)

And probably because you’re not so good at this thing, you probably don’t like to do it. Hell, you may even hate it.

For me, it’s coloring. And I don’t hate it. I loathe it.

I’m serious. Ask my mom. She actually watched me throw tantrums when I was asked to color. I mean, in high school, my classmates cheered when they could color for their extra credit. I actually groaned out loud once.

I mean, there’s just no room for error and there’s too many rules when coloring. It’s inside the line or it’s not. It’s too dark, too light. How exhausting!

But weirdly enough, now that I’m older, I like to color in adult coloring books. It’s soothing, and I can actually color the colors I want. Do I need a blue sky? Darn tooting, I sure don’t. It’s purple now. Because I say so.

But why do I like it now? I mean, I’m definitely no better at it. I can’t keep the color inside the lines if I had a gun to my head. It requires all the patience I don’t have.

What’s different? This: I’ve accepted that I suck. That I’m not good at it. That with some things, practice doesn’t make perfect. But that’s okay. Or at least, it’s not the end of the world, like it was made out to be in my childhood.

There’s something to be said for being able to tell people about your accomplishments. But you should also understand your limitations and weaknesses. And you shouldn’t be ashamed if you can’t do anything about them. What you should do is accept yourself for who you are. And if you do that, you’ll succeed in life with flying colors.