Doing Things Badly

People often do things badly. Not you, of course, dear reader. I am talking about the rest of us.

When I say "do things badly", I do not mean "do bad things". From casual typos, to misaligned parking, to not paying attention how something is phrased and inadvertently giving offense--- there is a range of imprecision from "oops" through "uh oh" to "oh shit".

Anyone who has worked out with me (you know who you are) knows my obsession with form. That's a no-brainer, lift a heavy weight badly and you’ll get hurt. Same with language. Say what you mean fer chrissake, don't get all poncy with words unless it's because they're more expressive. And food, better to have good ingredients that you can taste rather than elaborate layers of seasoning and presentation that do nothing but cover the plate.

If you’re going to do something, why not try to do it – if not well, then at least, not badly? We don’t, though. We speak without thinking, we eat without tasting, we skim what we’re reading. Don’t get me started on what I see in the gym every day, I honestly don’t know why some of those people even bother—or how they stay out of the hospital.

But there’s a corollary. (Ha! You thought I was going to say “metaphor” again, didn’t you?) If you’re enjoying what you do, often that’s enough. Not always, a hearty belch can make you feel better but it’s still not welcome in my face no matter how far into the alphabet you can get. Play a game because it’s fun. Send a note to a friend even if it has typos. Stop reading this, get out of your chair and do something, anything, to get your blood moving. Because the one thing you can’t do badly, is be happy.