“There’s Got To Be Something Better Than In The Middle”

What’s So Wrong About Being Mediocre?

Do you remember the popular song “One Headlight” by the Wallflowers? Dang, that song has been playing in my head over and over.

And it’s this one particular lyric, “There’s got to be something better than in the middle” that is DRIVING ME CRAZY!

What is it about needing to GO BIG or GO HOME that stops us from ever attempting to be comfortable and satisfied with playing life down the middle?

We are taught to believe that the “Middle” is boring and that it’s NOT the place where happiness exists. We are also told that mediocrity is for losers and that It is the extremes of life that are the coolest. Let’s face it NOTHING happens in the “Middle”. It is BLAH BLAH BLAH… BUT WAIT, what if this is one BIG FAT LIE?

In the past five years I’ve tried to GO BIG by following 2 multi-level marketing companies with the promise (at least in my head) that I would really “make it” (excuse me head, what does that really mean?).

I thought I would be able to passively earn income if I did the hard work to set the business up exactly the way they told me to. But here’s the thing I am not good at following the rules.

I could not and would not be able to run a successful McDonalds because I would want to change the way they do things which destroys the idea of having a franchise. Oh and did I mention, I was going to do all of this all while maintaining my day job.

Did I “make it”? Well “YES” and “NO”. Here’s the thing, MY DEFINITION OF MAKING IT has changed dramatically over the last year. MAKING IT back when I was introduced to the idea of making passive income meant that my future would be financially secure.

$$$’s would just start rolling in because I would have done it right. You know, doing all the things like networking, approaching all the people I know with the idea of financial freedom or this miracle product, and asking them to follow me to the promised land. YIKES!

Don’t get me wrong, FINANCIAL FREEDOM is GREAT but it does not get me out of bed in the morning long term. And it is one of those BIG IDEA ways to motivate people to action. At least it did for me initially.

Unfortunately, IT WAS NOT A SUSTAINABLE way for me to “MAKE IT BIG”. My definition of making it BIG today is in finding ways to continually “CELEBRATE ME”.

Celebrating me today looks like making dinner, walking the dogs, returning my Mom’s texts, having a great session with a coaching client, meditating, taking a shower, eating healthy foods, not taking personally my judgment of me supposedly not making it.

And guess what? I am Really now starting to make it BIG although my EGO still wants to convince ME that I am playing it SMALL.

If I cannot find comfort in the life I am already living than how will living a different life be any different? Right, we always think the grass is greener on the other side.

So say you are wanting to change your life from perhaps MEDIOCRE to STELLAR because heck isn’t that what most of us dare to do? It sure was my story.

I had stopped allowing myself to grow where I currently was in favor of jumping into a completely new thing that could rescue me from my old thing and propel me out of “Mediocrity”. WHAT???? My crazy was SUPER CRAZY!!!

I NOW THANK THE UNIVERSE for the FLAT TIRE of MEDIOCRITY!

Yes, that’s what really taught me about “making it”.

Most of the time it seems that you have to find out what you don’t want in order to know what you do want.

There are so many people these days trying to invite you to their newest, latest, and greatest thing to MAKE YOUR LIFE BETTER! I CALL BULLSHIT on this!

People you know who you are, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, show me how to find the spectacular in my MEDIOCRE.

Because I’ve found, MEDIOCRITY is the GIFT.

Escape, escape, escape…. If I just go over here then maybe things will be different or better. My soul has been dying to get my attention these days by telling me to stay where I am and find out what’s great about NOW.

And NO, I am not going to go on and on about starting a GRATEFULNESS practice and how that can be the next answer for you.

However, gratefulness is certainly a start because it’s a rather affirming way of making peace with the NOW.

Here is a simple way I end my day. I write in a journal before I go to bed (and yes some nights I am too tired to want to do this but the habit of doing it just has me doing it surprisingly), 5–10 things I am grateful for, 5–10 things I Did RIGHT TODAY (which could be as simple as taking a shower today, walking the dog or making a kick-ass dinner), and 5–10 things I would like to bring in from my future.

I can’t tell you why this works for me. It just does and it keeps me grounded, humbled, and moving forward in life in simple incremental ways.

It’s not the “BIG POW” of “MAKING IT BIG”.

It’s the slow steady mediocre way that has you waking up one day going, “Man, how did I get here because it just felt like living each day was all I was doing and it led me to this great thing.”

That’s what led me to this writing gig.

I never thought that this would be one of those things I would end up doing because it did not have that wow factor for me and of course it’s not a financially secure way of making money.

Silly, silly, silly HEAD. So glad I do not give my EGO the attention it once got because I know I would not be here writing this article if I did.

I just love it, I started in the “Middle” (thinking I was mediocre) and ended up back in the “Middle” (a new definition that now sees me as the Superstar of my LIFE).

The Middle is the BOMB!

Yes, I just said that because it’s always there like a constant companion that just lives life steadily always having your back.

The Middle is where life is lived and the extremes, well you can have the extremes. They are short-lived, unsustainable, and never last very long.

So it is my sincere HOPE that you NOW give yourself PERMISSION if you too have been caught up in “There’s got to be something better than in the middle” and adjust your lens on life to focus on what’s steadily happening around you every day.

If you are inclined you could start the gratefulness practice that I incorporate or you could start a practice of your own that can steadily have you acknowledging what a gift life is and what a gift you are to the world!