Not Fine. Preferred.
Welcome to The Preferred EDIT. Refined.
FINE is the four-letter word not permitted in our home.
It is the real F word.
It means nothing.
It measures nothing.
It reveals nothing. Years ago, I mentored a woman in Rwanda through the Africa Yoga Project. Aline and I met weekly on Zoom, far more than the program required. After the first call, it was clear we weren’t just bridging geography. We were dismantling internal ceilings.
On one of our earliest conversations, I asked her about the weather.
“It’s fine,” she said.
Having never been to Rwanda, that told me nothing. So I turned my computer toward the window in Toledo.
“Let me show you what fine looks like here.”
She gasped. “WOW. Snow. I’ve never seen snow.”
That was the moment.
Fine disappeared from our vocabulary.
Fine hides detail. Fine erases contrast. Fine keeps life small.
That’s how I landed here, writing, editing, sharing.
I am no longer interested in living a fine life.
Fine is status quo. Fine is muted color. Fine is tolerable.
And after losing my husband, one truth became unshakable:
This life is finite.
Fine does not honor that.
I want refined living.
Deliberate choices.
Elevated standards.
Experiences that are textured, intentional, and fully awake.
And to be surrounded by people who live beyond the expected. The Preferred EDIT is not about perfection.
It is about preference.
It is about stepping past mediocrity, over trends, beyond “doable,” and away from people, places, and patterns that dilute your authority.
The Preferred EDIT is a decision.
Clearer. Calmer. More decisive.
Not fine.
Preferred.
Always EDITing,
Leslie
PS – My full Chenot detox experience lands Sunday. It will take you behind the scenes of a seven-day reset that refined more than my biology.
“Refined" signifies the process of purification, removes impurities, builds character, and produces holiness, similar to how metal is purified to reveal the refiner's image.
You’re absolutely right. Years ago I was watching a professional golfer being interviewed after his round. He was just coming back from an injury and he said, “if you lick the lollipop of mediocrity, you’ll suck forever.” How true is that? And yet many people settle for that. While fine and mediocre are similar in meaning, they’re not the same. Either way, neither are a good resting place!