Being Perfect is Impossible, Getting Better is the Goal

I have been recording a parenting podcast the past six months, sharing my experience nannying professionally, which I did for over thirty years. Raising kids after all that time is easy for me, podcasting - not so much. 

It was all new to me, but having fallen in love with several podcasts, I listen to regularly, I was hoping to follow in their footsteps and bring people useful content. So I jumped in. 

Then I found myself overwhelmed at the technology, the time involved, and my lack of skill. I wanted my podcast to be perfect. I wanted to sound polished and professional - immediately. But when I listened to it and had a few friends listen to it, we all thought it sounded terrible. Ok, my friends did not say that exactly. They had constructive and useful feedback but it was hard to hear myself talking and harder to hear how uncomfortable I sounded being recorded. I hadn’t found my voice, my comfort level doing something new yet. I was a beginner.

I’m sharing this because that’s how life works. You have to put it out there and work towards getting better. Everyone is a beginner at some point. Parenting starts with some uncomfortable situations because you are new to it. Every age and each child will be new to you. But remember you have time and to improve your parenting skills. Even though the beginning can be overwhelming, like my first not-so-great podcast episodes, you can acquire the information and skills to be better. 

I still don’t have the professional, polished sound down a hundred percent, but that’s ok because what I have to say is important and it matters to me so I’ll keep working at it and over time I’ll get better and better. I’m not going to give up. 

You don’t have to parent perfectly, just don’t give up on getting better.