Perfection–I have been giving a lot of attention to that word and everything that goes along with attempting to achieve it as well as the disappointment that comes from it being unattainable, or certainly unmaintainable!
As a society we need to stop thinking we can find the perfect spouse, raise the perfect child or land the perfect job. How often we all hear people saying their lives would be just perfect if one thing were different. If only I had a little more money or a little more time, if only my husband would pay more attention to me or my boss treat me with more respect and of course, if only I could lose the last 5 pounds!
Recently, watching a Dr. Oz episode about hoarders, I learned that people who hoard actually have a different thing going in their brain than non-hoarders. They are perfectionists, actually, who have a problem with the decision making part of their brain. As they are afraid they will be making a wrong or bad decision by discarding an item that might, someday be useful, they choose to keep it instead. Here. again, the need to be perfect gets in the way of living a full life.
How many people who undergo plastic surgery are still not happy with the results. They may repeat the same surgery several times until they achieve what they believe is perfection, only to find something else that needs to be fixed. How disappointed are we when we learn that a politician or celebrity is less than perfect. We try to find good reason for their lack of judgement, when in fact they are just human and intellectually we ALL know that “too err is human”.
Tony Horton, the p90x trainer, repeats a great mantra on his videos. He says “just do your best and forget the rest”. We can all learn to be happier, healthier and more at peace if we would could just wake up each morning and repeat that mantra.
With too little time this morning, this may or may not be my most perfect blog. I barely have time to reread before I hit the “publish” button. What I do know is, given my time constraints, I did my best and will forget the rest. As I travel through my work day, I will bring that mantra to my classes and clients and hope that my best is good enough. As you travel through your day, I hope you can avoid disappointment by refusing to seek or strive for absolute perfection, but always and all ways do and give your very best!