Do Better, Karev

If you base your own behaviour on what other people are doing, you will never fulfil your potential.

So there I was, getting annoyed with the person next door in my hotel banging and crashing about. I’d tried to be really considerate of the adjoining door in this room by using in-ears to watch Netflix, closing the bathroom door when I flushed, that sort of thing. However, whoever’s next door right now couldn’t give a rat’s ass about being considerate of me. And it’s grinding my gears.

Because you’re letting it. Change the record. Lift your game. Do better, Karev.

I love Grey’s Anatomy. There was a character called Alex Karev who, in his early days, was frequently in trouble for being slack. His tutor Dr Webber would say ‘do better, Karev’. It’s become a flick on the ear catchphrase from my wiser self whenever I need to lift my game.

Ok… so…. it might be a cleaner who’s working (while I’m having time out) for minimum wage (I’m on a bit more than that) and is possibly cleaning up who knows what from the last occupant (yuck). So I might do better to check my privilege instead of getting pissy about what Captain ‘It’s All About Me’ (aka my ego) perceives as their inconsiderate behaviour.

Also though, maybe it’s not a cleaner. Maybe they’re oblivious to how noisy they’re being? Maybe they know but just straight up don’t care! Maybe they’re deliberately behaving inconsiderately!

That’s not your business.

We’re not all in the same place. We don’t all start from the same place. Who knows why another human does what they do? Every single one of us has stuff going on that we might not even have told our close friends. Whoever is next door is very likely  fighting a battle I know nothing about. (With the furniture by the sounds of it, but still.)

What I do know though, is that basing my own mood, attitude or behaviour on the lowest common denominator of someone else’s actions is not a good standard to hold myself to. ‘Well they’re doing it’ is a) something a six-year-old would say, and b) a race to the bottom if ever there was one. At best it’s going to lead to terminal mediocrity, and I would like to try and do a bit better than that. Whatever’s going on next door is not my business. I can knock on the door and ask them to keep it down; I can go out; or I can get over it. (In all situations I have three choices: change it, leave it, or accept it. All else is madness.)

Whichever way, if I have the knowledge and resources to do better – to lift my game, even just inside my own head – I should.

I will.

Do better, Karev.