Brenden's Blog

When I think about my biggest mistakes, they all seem to share one theme: I let my ego get the best of me. Staying humble is easier said than done, and it’s hard to appreciate how good things are until they’re gone. There’s a fine line between keeping your ego in check and sacrificing so much self-respect that you become a doormat. In most cases, you don’t realize you’ve crossed that line until it’s too late.

Sometimes we do things because we want to, sometimes we do things because we must. For example, you may need to do a task at work that you don’t particularly enjoy, but you do it because it’s part of your job. Or perhaps you listen to a song you enjoy because you enjoy the song. Simple enough, right?

Although I have written about this idea before, I feel like it’s one worth elaborating on. We live in an age of instant gratification, which I think leaves us often feeling underwhelmed. In most cases, this disappointment is due to our expectations being too high. There is, of course, a simple solution to this problem: lower your expectations. On the surface you might think “but why should I lower my standards?”, and I’ll try to make the case for why you should.

I don’t love winter. It’s certainly my least favourite season. While I grew up in a relatively cold place with an unpleasant winter, I wouldn’t say I’m better adapted to it than anyone else. I do, however, have an appreciation for the seasons and I try to (begrudgingly) enjoy winter just as much as summer.

A lot of effort goes into avoiding bad feelings. Bad feelings are generally bad, but rather than focusing on avoiding them, it might make sense to focus on resilience. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from bad feelings, and get through the tough times just as well as the good times.