“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” — Maya Angelou
I’m letting this quote sit with me for a while.
It’s both a mantra and a comforting truth. We can only do better when we know better, which means that everything we do before that moment becomes a stepping stone toward learning, toward growth, toward shedding beliefs that no longer serve us. That’s grace. That’s understanding that our past actions deserve our tenderness, because they teach us to know ourselves more deeply.
Once we see ‘better’, we receive a new script, a fresh opportunity to try again and learn anew.
But Angelou doesn’t stop at compassion. She boldly challenges us: when we know better, we can’t simply keep that knowledge tucked away inside. We can’t just claim wisdom without embodying it. We must do better.
And so the cycle continues—knowing, doing, learning, growing. The power of this quote lies in its layered, continuous nature.
This year has taught me that my best is always my best, until I know better. Not because I wasn’t good enough, brave enough, or strong enough to begin with, but because every struggle and every victory served a purpose. Every moment of this year has meant something—the weight I carried, the joy I discovered, the times I faltered, and the times I rose.
I can carry all of it with me into the final days of 2025 and forward into 2026. Not as a burden, but as evidence.
Evidence that I’ve been doing my best all along, and that knowing better isn’t a condemnation of who I was—it’s an invitation into who I’m becoming.
