The Best Version of Me

Something that has come around in my life recently is the concept of "the best version of someone".  I try to see the people I care about as their "best versions", treat them like I would if they were at their best.  I want everyone in my life to know I respect and have faith in who they are.

But, what does "best version" mean?  I cannot truly know what someone's best version is.  Can that person actually be the person I think they are?  Do they even want to?  Does their belief of their best version of themselves come anywhere close to mine?  It is a hard thing to know.

To that point, I don't even know what the best version of myself is.  I know the best I've ever been.  I have sense of who the best me might be.  But that's hardly definitive.

So, if I'm going to keep the concept of "the best version", I need to define it.  Something consistent and in line with how I think about it now.  Here is what I've come up with.

• I look at someone I try my best to see them as they are at that moment, without preconceptions.  The truer I see someone the truer my view of their best version.
• The best version of me is a little better than the best I've ever been.  I can always improve myself.

The whole idea is cheesy, I suppose.  But like any idea, it's a tool, a way of orienting my mind.  Something that helps me be the person I want to be.  I am lucky that in my life I have people who have wonderful versions of themselves and show it regularly, and someone who makes me want to be my best version.

Be good, have fun,
Jon.

Bonus Track:
We lost a pioneer in music and culture.  Whether you loved him or not, David Bowie changed the world.  Here is a tribute to his amazing Space Oddity.  Marion Call and Molly Lewis recreate it using only the 1000 most used words in the English language.