When I was growing up, my parents were very adamant about me and my brothers to get our school work done and getting the best grades possible. We were told from a very young age to do our best and to give everything our greatest effort. In high school, I was absolutely terrible at English and I failed the majority of the quizzes we took in class. When I came home from school and reluctantly showed my mom my grades, completely upset with myself because I tried so hard everyday in this class, she said to me, “Rachel, even though you didn’t make the grade you wanted, you still tried your best and that is all I have ever asked of you”. I still keep that statement close to my heart everyday. What she meant was that sometimes, your absolute best effort does not create the outcome that you want, but that’s okay because at least you put all of your effort into it. If you can look back on a situation and truly say that you put in the best effort that you possibly could, then you have not completely failed.

Putting your best effort forward is exhausting and you should always strive to do so. If you can look back on a situation and say that you actually gave it your best effort, you have done a lot. By giving it your best, you have persevered and accomplished something. However, that something does not always equate to the outcome you wanted to occur. Sometimes, your greatest effort and focus won’t be enough to make things fall the way you want them to, but that does not mean your effort was wasted.

You see, everything happens for a reason and nothing happens without purpose. Sometimes the purpose is to tear you down to your core so that you can be made stronger, and other times it is to show someone else what not to do. Both situations are extremely frustrating because you went through all of that and you failed, but it’s not without a purpose. Even when things happen to you so that others learn from you, it doesn’t mean that your efforts and struggles went unnoticed. It may be hard on your end, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t have a purpose.

We have grown up with people telling us that if we give it our absolute, one hundred percent effort, then everything will work out the way we want it to. But, life doesn’t work that way. Sometimes, things just don’t work out the way you want them to. Sometimes, that person leaves you in that relationship or that event you planned was a complete bust. Sometimes all that practice you put in does not allow you to win the game or you bomb that test you studied two whole weeks for. But it’s okay to fall short of the mark sometimes, especially if it’s after you have put all your effort into whatever it was. I know that it doesn’t make it any less frustrating, but you have to know in your heart that you tried your best and sometimes, that is all you can do.

If you can look back on something and truly be able to say that you tried your hardest, then you have accomplished something that many others never do. Giving one hundred percent on everything is hard and it wears you out. But, by doing so, you find out what your limits are, you learn how to overcome obstacles and how to be patient. There are cases when you put in everything you can but fail while someone else puts in less than half effort into it and succeed. Don’t get me wrong, that is absolutely one of the most annoying things in the world, but you learn from it and move on. I mean really, what else is there to do?

Life is all about learning. Sometimes it is painful to do so, but it is not without purpose that you go through events in your life. Even though things may not work out for you every single time, which does not mean you should stop putting your best effort into everything that you do. Trying your best is all you can do.