Do you strive for something that's likely unattainable? Do you hope for smooth sailing?
I'm not talking about dreams or goals... I'm not trying to put a damper on reaching for the stars or landing upon the moon. I do believe that hard work leads to success and achievement. What I don't believe in is an end result of perfection. It's difficult and more often impossible.
People are flawed; life is flawed. I would venture to say that your to-do list is almost never completed by a set date or time or that your schedule rarely follows every booked appointment. I'm the kind of person that plans and doesn't really act spontaneously or allow for roadblocks or bumps along the way, but I try to recognize that getting to the end of the day being a completely perfect person is just about as difficult as eating just one chip from a bag of Utz with ridges or turning off TLC's "My Strange Addiction." I don't know about you, but I am incapable of doing either.
The hard part is knowing that it's 100% okay to make a mistake or misstep.
That's something I'm not very good at.
I remember when I was first learning the elements of my job at "ET." I was deathly afraid of making a mistake on a petty cash report. For one, it was sort of a pain in the ass to go back and fix everything. But, more importantly, I didn't want my boss to know I had messed up a little bit. My friend who was teaching me how to compile the reports said to me, "You know, it's okay to make a mistake every once in a while. It shows her that you're human. Otherwise you'd be a robot."
No matter how much I tried to abide by that rule, I never got over typing a number correctly or accidentally calculating an amount incorrectly. It killed me every time I'd get one of my reports back with my boss's little purple pen corrections. Being wrong stinks, and I'm pretty much deathly afraid of being a disappointment or of metaphorically falling down when someone else can see (although, who wants to fall down at all?).
I know not everyone suffers from searching for perfection. While I'm not entirely happy about the fact that I look for only the best in myself and those that surround me, I do think it's better than being lackadaisical (good word - right?) about getting to through the day. No one pushed me to get As, and no one had to tell me to finish my homework or make flashcards. Clean my room? Empty the dishwasher? Sure. But strive for greatness? Nope... I did that to myself.
So how can we learn to let ourselves off the hook? When and how can we stop beating ourselves up for something that is entirely normal? My hair might be out of place, and my clothes might be on the floor, so it's obvious I can't be ON all the time. Only when it comes to the important stuff, I'm truly a bit of a pain in the butt. I expect just as much from you as I do from myself.
Maybe it's in breathing exercises or meditation... Maybe it's simply from growing up and experiencing life that we can become more accepting of getting as close as we'll ever be. Perfect shouldn't be a goal, but for some it will always be a guiding factor, whether or not it's where you end up at the end of the journey.
"Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel like you're less than fuckin' perfect."
(Sorry it's not a real video. The song's new, and I couldn't find one.)
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