perfection

perfection has it's price. the saying is used over and over again. what does it really mean, though? i'm not perfect, so i am not paying any price. my friends and family aren't perfect, so i can't ask them. stella artois claims to be perfect, so you literally have to pay a price for it. but i don't like stella, so i have never paid for perfection. that is, until last sunday.

it was like any other sunday during the fall. i was wearing slippers, eating spinach artichoke dip, and gazing intently at the tv screen. but unlike other sunday's, i was feeling the price. two season's ago, the patriots went undefeated in the regular season, only to loose the superbowl in heartbreaking fashion to the new york giants. they were perfect in the regular season, and almost perfect in the post season. the only way to improve was to maintain the perfect regular season and improve to win the superbowl.

i was finally feeling the price of perfection. instead of looking for the best in a situation, i was only focusing on the worst. the price of perfection comes from comparison to perfection. it means never appreciating the good, and always highlighting the bad. as a person, there is always room for improvement. in perfection, there is only room for decline. a one loss season is a disappointment when comparing to the previous previous season.

the only way to stop paying the price of perfection is to stop comparing to previous success. instead, success and failures should be measured against potential. is it reasonable to expect this patriots team this year to go undefeated? no. therefore, one loss is not a disappointment. one mistake is not a failure. it is a learning experience.