I met a friend some time ago. He graduated from a prestigious domestic school more than ten years ago and is now a primary school geography teacher in our small mountain town.
His friends all thought that he was overqualified for his talents, but he laughed and said nothing.
After getting along for a while, everyone found that although he taught geography, his writing and calligraphy skills were quite good. When he got interested, he would even take out his guitar and play a song, which was amazing.
I said to him with emotion: At your level, you should never live such a mediocre life.
He smiled and said: My life is indeed ordinary, but it is not mediocre.
I was deeply shocked by this sentence.
Yes, he has a level of knowledge and a taste for life, but he just did a seemingly ordinary job. It can be said that he lived an ordinary life, but it really cannot be said that he was mediocre.
Ordinary and mediocre have similar meanings in the dictionary. If you think about it carefully, ordinary makes people feel at ease, while mediocrity seems decadent and boring.
The two are similar in appearance but very different in spirit.
The difference between ordinary and mediocre is whether there has been pursuit. One has worked hard and the other has never started.
There must be similar examples around you. They are doing ordinary jobs. They are just like us every day, commuting on the bus and worrying about their parents. They may not look good, but they are kind to others.
But suddenly one day, you will hear people talk about the moments when they shined. They may have a high degree of education, they may have made achievements in a certain field, or they may even retain the skills that once attracted much attention. Medal of Honor.
Later, they either did not go further by chance, or they chose to return to mediocrity.
But these people must be different. At work, they are proactive, committed to their duties, do their duties in an orderly manner, and are enthusiastic about helping their colleagues; in life, they are optimistic and indifferent, warm and loving to their families, and loyal to their friends.
Such people will not be harsh or careless, because their hard work has already forged their strong hearts.
Mediocre people have never worked hard once. They are content with the status quo and follow the trend. They have never touched excellence and have no intention to pursue excellence.
It is great wisdom not to be an enemy of the ordinary, nor to associate with the mediocre.
Achievements in life are equal to half of hard work and half to luck, supporting each other. No matter how good a person is, his achievements may be mediocre, but a person who has no fighting spirit will never be able to hold on to his position even if he is ranked high.
Accepting the ordinary is the open-mindedness and calmness after struggle.
To be willing to be mediocre is to be cowardly and undisciplined who dare not challenge.
If you truly accept mediocrity from the bottom of your heart, you will inevitably reject mediocrity.
In the face of past achievements, ordinary people will remember the past without thinking about the past, and mediocre people will be eager to show off; in the face of current life, ordinary people manage seriously, and mediocre people live in confusion.
The most important thing is that facing the future, ordinary people still have the courage to face all the ups and downs of honor and disgrace, while mediocre people may look left and right and run away.
You and I are both mortals, living in the trivial life of daily necessities, and moving forward in uncertainty. The road ahead is long, with unpredictable ups and downs. What we have to do is to always fill our hearts with sunshine and live seriously.
Accepting mediocrity can make you feel at peace when looking up at the stars; rejecting mediocrity can make you firm when you bow your head and move forward.
The secret to a happy life is to accept mediocrity calmly and firmly reject mediocrity.