The need to be perfect is something that I am really struggling with at the moment, so I thought it would be good for me (and maybe even you) to plan out how exactly I’m going to combat this feeling…
The pressure to be perfect is a big, mentally draining thing. I experience it at college – my teachers want me to produce good work and get good grades. I experience it at gymnastics – each and every move must be of absolute flawless form in order for it to recognised and praised. And, I also experience it within myself – both in that I too want to produce good work and good grades and the fact that I suffer from not one, but two, mental illnesses that are built on perfectionism: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and an eating disorder (predominantly Anorexia Nervosa – but is mixed I believe).
Obviously, I want to try and fight these feelings as they take up a lot of my energy and mental space, and the fear of not being perfect can bring me down quite a lot. Here’s what I’m planning on doing to overcome my perfectionism:
Overcoming Perfectionism
1. Wreck This Journal
I’ve owned one of these before, a good few years ago now though and I think that it will be very beneficial for to allow me to ‘come out of my shell’. If you don’t know what a ‘Wreck This Journal’ is, it is a book by Keri Smith whereby you have complete a task of every page that essentially will destruct the book in some shape or form. This’ll force me to destroy the pristine condition that it came to me in. They can be very fun to complete sometimes and it also allows you to be creative as you can interpret the instructions however you want! I thinking of getting a second one as well so I can do different things!
2. Only doing things once
Another problem I tend to have is doing the same things over and over again – particularly college work and so it takes me AGES. For example, in photography if I have to write something into my sketchbook I’ll write it out on paper a couple of times and maybe even type it as well before writing it into my book and even then it can still be imperfect. So, I plan to start doing these kinds of tasks only once to save time and help overcome my obsession.
3. Accepting that true perfectionism does not exist
Ultimately, I simply need to accept that nothing is truly perfect and that I can only do the best I can do. Out of the three, this task will definitely be the hardest – I believe that it would be for anyone though!
That is my current plan – I could only think of three things! If anyone has any other suggestions please let me know. I hope you enjoyed this post and that it was helpful for some of you!
Thanks for reading – what do you struggle with?
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