Dare To Be Average
This from the Fifth Maxim in improv wisdom:
This rule may seem simplistic, but don’t underestimate how well it works. Changing expectations can take the pressure off and may even cheer you up. Radical Presence author Mary Rose O’Reilley gives this example of deflecting perfection anxiety: “The poet William Stafford used to rise every morning at four and write a poem. Somebody said to him, ‘But surely you can’t write a good poem every day, Bill. What happens then?’ ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘then I lower my standards.’ Three great lessons here — practice your art every day, lower your standards, and claim a time or place or an attitude that will challenge you bourgeois idea of reality. Four A.M.!” ~Patricia Ryan Madson
I know that for me, striving to be perfect (unique, genius, cool, awesome, or whatever) is just plain exhausting. AND I miss the mark so often that it’s depressing. BUT, if I allow myself to be surprised when anything hits beyond the mark of average, then life stops being such a constant chore (where even my best isn’t good enough) and becomes an adventure again.
I have found myself to be frozen by the fear of not being good enough too much in my life. Enough already.
I’m daring to be Average.
prayers for the oft traveled road 
Well, you can think of yourself as average if that helps you get things done – but we know better 🙂 Maybe you’re just judging yourself in the wrong categories?
I, of course, have average down to a science – and it’s definitely less stressful.
I am going to have to call Bull*hit on your “average” Miss Poetess (among other things). Even your humility is above average! 😀
I’ve always thought of myself as a B+ sort of person. Most of the time that works out, and it’s not so bad. I think being anything above that leads to expectations that are uncomfortably high. I like being B+. Except for those occasions when I am less so.