144: Little Jolt of Joy – Leave the Superlatives in the Yearbook!

Leave the Superlatives for the Yearbook

I have a senior right now, so life is deep in that bittersweet mix of finals stress, college decisions, end-of-year parties, and yearbooks about to arrive. All of it has me thinking about senior superlatives, best dressed, most school spirit, most likely to succeed, the categories every yearbook seemed to have. I used to think we left all of that behind at graduation. Looking around, I’m not so sure we did.

We never actually stopped competing

Think about it. Which mom throws the best birthday parties. Who’s best dressed at every school function. Who brings the best food to the potluck. Whose kids look the most pulled together, doing all the activities, having all the fun. Whose house looks like it stepped straight out of a Pinterest board someone actually followed through on instead of just endlessly pinning. Didn’t we grow up tired of all that performance? Why are we still quietly entering the same contest, just with a different set of categories?

We do it with our own self-improvement too

The minimalist identity, the thirty-day diet, the massive new exercise program, whatever we attach ourselves to, we walk partway through it, fall short of someone else’s version of success, and then feel bad for not keeping pace with everyone else. It’s the same superlative-chasing instinct, just aimed inward this time.

What if we just left it in the yearbook where it belongs

Enough already. What if instead we simply valued the family we have, counted the blessing of having a home at all, and cared for that home not to show it off but to make the people living in it genuinely happier there. Not the best-dressed home. Not the most Instagram-worthy. Just a home that feels good to be in.

If you know what you want but can’t seem to move toward it

If that vision sounds exactly like what you want, but you keep getting stuck spinning between exhaustion, anxiety, and the question of whether you’re doing it right, or whether one thing has to happen before another can, that spin itself is worth naming. It’s not a character flaw, it’s the familiar overwhelm loop, and it responds better to support than to willpower alone.

I hope you’ll leave the superlatives in the yearbook where they belong, and let your home simply be a place that feels good to live in, nothing more required to prove.

Until next time, continue to choose joy.