There’s no getting it ‘right’

Photo by Mike Scheid on Unsplash

One concept that shows up regularly in both parenting and financial planning is learning and relearning that there's no such thing as getting it ‘right’.

There’s what you’d ideally like to happen. These are your goals for your family and finances.

Then there’s what actually happens.

This may or may not look even close to what you had hoped for. 

The gap between what you hoped for and what actually happened is where questioning ourselves and second guessing our decisions usually happens.

So what can we do when there’s no getting it ‘right’ and all we’re left with is frustration at our inability to do so?

I think the best we all can do is to keep showing up.

With our kids, this means continuing to offer them our time and presence knowing full well we’ll make mistakes along the way.

With our planning, this means knowing adjustments will be necessary often through no fault of our own and that those adjustments will require our ongoing time and attention.

It’s so easy to get caught in the spin cycle of the unavoidable ups and downs. But when we can accept that there is no avoiding them, we’re better prepared to deal with them upon their inevitable arrival.

All we really need to do is keep showing up. And if you’ve stopped doing so, please don’t waste any time beating yourself up about it.

You just need to get back up on that horse and start again.