A 'C' means you've done average work. There's nothing shameful about being average. You didn't fail. You didn't even come close. You did what you were supposed to do. Cheerfully accepting the C means that you recognize there's such a thing as a B and an A and that you know you fell short of both; you can take pride in your place n the middle of the pack but still appreciate that there's room to grow. Mediocrity isn't crass or shoddy or vulgar. It's, well, mediocre. There's nothing wrong with it. It's not bad. When you embrace mediocrity, you embrace humility--you learn to see that no matter how good you are at something, the world probably has people who are more talented at it than you. You can strive to learn from people who do things better, or you can at least appreciate them--even if you don't want to be them. By definition, most of us are mediocre, and everyone is mediocre at something. It's often just a matter of perspective.