You Are Better

You are better.  That sounds kind of conceited, doesn’t it?  A friend once told me around this time of the year “You are better today than you were a year ago, and a year from now you will be better than you are today.”

Wise words.  It’s so simple, so obvious, but it’s also something that I don’t think we think about.  We hear about how we shouldn’t look back, always look forward.  “There is a reason why the windshield is so much bigger than the rear-view mirror.”  “Where you came from isn’t as important as where you are going.”

While all of those things have merit, I don’t think it’s completely true or even fair.  You can’t see how far you have come without looking back at where you started.

About a year and a half ago I started decorating cakes.  The first ones were pretty good, especially considering that I had just started.  Some were just okay.  But now of course, they are much better.  I have learned so much, I have more equipment, and I have practiced.  That crumb coat that I had never heard of two years ago and foiled me in the beginning of my cake decorating journey is much easier now.  And I can see, looking at pictures of my cakes, that I am much better now than when I started, and I am proud of that.  So why wouldn’t I look back?

 

I get it.  The importance of being positive, of looking at the good.  I get it and I do it. But I can also see the importance of seeing how I have improved.  As a person, as a cake decorator, hopefully as a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend.  But if I don’t look back I can’t see that.  It’s the same as the dreaded end of year work reviews.  Not all jobs have them, but I believe that many office jobs do.  Mine all have.

For those of you who have managed to avoid this, here is how it works.  You have certain criteria to meet during the year and have to show how you have met or exceeded (or heaven forbid, not met) those expectations.  I don’t know anyone who likes these reviews.  It is difficult to remember everything you have done through the year, especially if you are someone who comes in, does the work, then moves to the next thing and gets it done and so on and so on.  And if you are someone who comes in and does the work you probably feel like you don’t have time to be reviewing your own performance because you have better things to do, but it has to be done.  The only way I ever found I could even come close to getting them done was to keep a folder of my accomplishments to add to through the year and look back at when it was time to do my review.  If I didn’t, I couldn’t possibly remember everything I had done. (Looking back at your accomplishments is also a good way to cheer yourself up on a bad day.)

I had to look back.

And if I look back today, I can see how I have improved in the last year.  It has been far from a perfect year, but I am better today than I was a year ago.  And I will be better a year from now than I am today.

And I think that is worth celebrating.

So, take some time today to celebrate you.  How far you have come, how much you have improved, what you have accomplished.  Celebrate that.  And be proud.