The Pursuit of Excellence

As I left the pool today, I was stopped in the hall to the locker rooms by my favorite lifeguard. He wanted to pass on the comments of one of the class instructors. Apparently this lady has noticed me regularly at the pool and decided this morning to comment on my swimming to this lifeguard. The upshot of what he related was something like this:
It is obvious that you can swim, but your strokes are not quite right. You are young and can still improve. The possibility is defintely there to do it right. If you can afford it, it would be well for you to get some professional training. Otherwise you will continue to make the same mistakes and the longer you do the harder it will be to break the habit. Of course, if you are only swimming for the fun of it and don't care to do it right, it doesn't really matter, but you can do it better. You can do it right.
I know that he wanted to help me by relating this information. I wondered as he was talking whether these ideas all belonged to the lady he had referred to or if he agreed with some of them himself. Unfortunately, the whole experience felt rather like a slap in the face to me. I have fondly pretended that no one notices me when I go swimming, and have enjoyed the time 'alone,' but the sad truth is, the longer I go there the more people recognize and greet me, and now this.
I thanked my friend for the advice and walked off to the locker room, reeling from the impact. As I stood in the shower, I seethed with the frustration of it all. As a teenager I took piano lessons, I could play well, but Mrs. O always encouraged me to do better, work harder, improve until I gave up the lessons because I had no desire to be a perfect pianist. I have had similar experiences with voice instructors: you could do very well if you do the work, but if you only want to be a big fish in a small pond, that's your decision. As a college student I got the comment from my professors: you do well, but you could do better. As a full-time retail employee I heard the same message. As a seminary student I received my last two papers back with comments of a good paper, but not good enough. Now, for as a last straw, I have been told the same thing by the lifeguard at my swimming pool. You do well, but there is room for improvement. You could be better. You could do it right.
Is it unreasonable of me to wish to run screaming into the sunset? Is it true that no matter how hard I try, it is never good enough? Or is the truth that every one of these teacher, mentors and friends throughout my past have spotted a trend in my life that I steadfastly refuse to acknowledge or address?
It has never been difficult for me to pass, to be good enough. I can achieve at an "average" level with little or no effort. This has bred in me a pronounced tendency toward laziness. I have been content (especially since I entered college) with better than rather than my best. Afterall, doing my best is so difficult. I'm only human! I can't be perfect! Perhaps not, but I can still do better. Can't I?
I never desired to pursue excellence. I have never considered myself a perfectionist. Good enough is good enough, right? Yet, at every turn in my life I have receieved this push, this encouragement, this spurring on to the better. Sure I'd like to do the strokes propperly. It would be awesome to improve. I've often wished there was someone to correct the mistakes I knew I must be making, but how can I afford it? Do I have the time? Do I have the energy to make the effort? Can't my swimming just be my exercise? Or is this just a microcosom of my own reluctance to pursue the excellence that I have always avoided because the fear of success is actually greater than the fear of failure? After all, if I am faithful in small things, he will put me in charge of greater things. I'm not sure I want that responsibility.