I’m only as good as the last book I read.
My mother says this all the time in her therapy practice, but it’s true. All my best advice comes from whatever book is on my bedside table (you don’t even want to hear my advice when I’m reading a fictional book, it gets a little screwy).
In the last weeks, I’ve been reading a lot about perfection. First and foremost because I am a perfectionist myself but also because as a woman we are raised to be perfect. That’s how our society grooms us.
In both Brave, Not Perfect and Present Over Perfect, I’m seeing how trying to be perfect is affecting my personal life, spiritual life, and even my business. It’s limiting, stale and leaves no room for creativity.
Even worst, it leaves no space for failure. Oh, failure, how much grief we give you and yet where would we be without you?
I’m learning to love failure. To celebrate it. To appreciate it.
You see, failure is what gets us to where we want to be. Take walking. You fell over and over and over again and yet you still always got back up until you became a pro. Congratulations on succeeding, this tool has really been useful in life!
Now look at every single thing you know how to do and realize how many times you failed before you became a pro – Riding a bike, driving, putting together an outfit, tying your shoes, passing a class, scoring a goal, getting a promotion, getting a new job.
And the list goes on and on.
In letting go of the need to be perfect, we make space for creativity, for failure and inevitably for growth.
It’s a practice like everything else. And I’m not always perfect at being present. But that’s the point. Perfection is a word I would like dropped from my vocabulary. Instead, I would like to have the words powerful, creative, brave and especially enough. A word that never feels true to me but is something I am reminding myself about every day, and when perfection is in the way none of these words exist.
I am enough, exactly how I am, exactly where I am in my business, my creativity, my life. And the great news is so are you!
So drop the perfection, embrace failure and start the process of becoming the person or business you’ve always wanted to be. I’ll be here cheering you on, let me know how I can support you!
