What frustrates me about perfection is that it is unattainable. Therefore, no matter how much overthinking we do, the time wasted or spent procrastinating you will never achieve perfection. For me, being an all about good vibes type of girl being a perfectionist ruins the vibes and moments.

I’m not a perfectionist about everything though, only certain things. Particularly relationships, pictures, and my creative endeavours. This has led me to feel frustrated and sometimes even anxious when my ‘perfect’ outcome isn’t achieved or something is not going the way I planned, even up to the most minor details. I don’t even try to hide it; people will call me picky or an overthinker but it’s just my perfectionism.

Where does my perfectionism stem from? That was the question I asked myself in a moment of self-reflection. I was able to identify that it comes from constant criticism growing up and minimal affirmation in my childhood. And even when I accomplished amazing things despite the doubt I was still received with criticism leaving me feeling like anything I do is never good enough. So, now as a young adult, I am always trying to obtain an unrealistic level of perfectionism in the things that I do as a direct reflection of my childhood wounds (a friendly reminder to self-reflect and do inner healing work because your unhealed wounds always finds a way to come out into your day to day life).

What I have noticed about perfectionism is that it goes hand in hand with anxiety as it is a type of fear. You may have fear of things not going the way you hope and how you will cope in that situation. The fear of being misunderstood or being judged. Maybe even the belief that you are unworthy, constantly needing to prove yourself, or the desire to control the outcome of something. This causes you to focus on trying to get things ‘perfect’. By trying to reach this made-up idea of perfection can leave you feeling dissatisfied, frustrated, and anxious. It may even cause you to procrastinate because of the amount of time and energy you are putting into wanting something to be perfect. And I fully understand the feeling because I go through it often, it almost feels like I am in a cycle but this is something I am trying to unlearn.

With that being said, there are people who say striving for perfection gets you closer to excellence. That is a positive way of looking at it. However, if you notice your perfectionism is negatively impacting you then this is something you can work towards unlearning.

Personally, I am learning to accept that I can’t obtain perfection (probably not even close to it). But I can strive for excellence and appreciate constant progression. And understand that it is ok for me to make mistakes and not get things exactly the way I want them to be because I am constantly learning and improving. No matter how hard it gets, I am appreciating the lessons.

Thank you for reading! x