When I was 18 years old, I had a chat with an old friend and something he said to me at that time has never left my brain, and I think about it all the time. He had told me a story about two of his friends who had been dating for some time, and had always told each other “You complete me”, “You’re my other half”; quite in love. There came an instance where one of them had cheated on the other, immediately diluting the intimacy of being “completed” by each other.
My friend then told me his perspective on it, to which I held on to. He stated: ‘It is impossible for someone or something to be 100% perfect for you. They weren’t 100% perfect for each other. They might have been 99.9% perfect. This other person that was brought into infidelity didn’t have the 99.9%, but they had the 0.1%. Chasing that 0.1%, blinded by that “missing piece” was all it took. This conversation brought upon my ideal of my 99% rule.
Within the human experience, we are never satisfied. There will never be enough time, enough money, enough opportunities, enough friends, enough travel. Say you purchase your absolute dream car. You then notice that the car could use new seat covers. After the seat covers, you decide you could use interior lighting on the floorboards. New rims. New stereo system. Once the car has completed your standards, you might want a new house to park it in. The cycle is never-ending. New, new, new. More, more, more. 100% satisfaction does not exist. 100% perfection does not exist. And that is honestly a beautiful thing.
The beauty in the 99% rule, is that 99% is more than enough. If you are constantly seeking more, wanting more, needing more, that greed can take over someone’s lifestyle and become part of that person’s personality. Learning to absorb what you already have, and love it 100% leads to a much more fulfilling heart than the constant need to chase down that 1%. Practicing daily gratitude, practicing the nurturing of what opportunities to love you have, and truly romanticizing your life are all things that make your life feel 100% fulfilled. Understanding and knowing what you have, and to be fully grateful, fully absorbed in what your life has already been blessed with, is such an extraordinary feeling.
I’ve watched people who are never happy, never satisfied, never feeling like they “have enough” or they “can’t be happy until…” and it eats at them and steals their joy. Delete the vocabulary of “when I have _____ , when I get _____ job, when I complete _______ task, THEN I will be happy”. There is nothing and no one else in this world that “completes” you that isn’t already inside your own self. There is no reason to continue waiting to be happy or feel fulfilled.
The constant waiting will inevitably leave you in a chronic state of dissatisfaction. Take a look around you at this current moment. Practice gratitude for the things you already have, the feelings you feel, the things and people you love. It’s more than healthy to have goals and aspirations. In fact, you absolutely should! But I promise that your happiness doesn’t have to start only when you achieve your goals. That 1% will forever be evolving into something new. Don’t forget to nourish the 99% you already have.
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