I am a perfectionist, I like everything to be ‘just so’ and things tend to gnaw at me when that’s not the case (a frequent occurrence as we do not live in a perfect world). It’s something that troubles me at work as well as at home and it’s on my mind at the moment. Why? Because there are times when I hit a roadblock. When I’ve had a big clear out/de-clutter and I want to do more but seem to have this mental block where I don’t seem able to make decisions. I’m not sure why that is, I wonder sometimes if I’m tired, if life is too hectic or maybe I just need a rest.
Coming to terms with imperfection is something many people struggle with, I want a perfect house with everything in it’s place all the time. But more importantly, I want no clutter. But I’m not perfect and I can’t achieve this instantaneously. It’s an ongoing process, particularly when you have barely thrown anything out your whole life. It’s easy to accumulate, but a lot more work to get rid of it all…
When I have moments of feeling disheartened, I try and think back to all of my achievements. I think about what my space used to look like (well, there wasn’t much of it but you get the point). I think about all I have removed from my life and why my life is better because of that. Further, I also think about where I want to be. What I want to achieve and how I will get there. Sometimes even just getting rid of just one thing can get my head back in the game to where it should be.
Imperfection is a fact of life, but we shouldn’t let minor setbacks or minor mistakes cloud our judgment or impact our progress. It’s important to focus and the positives and not dwell on the negatives or errors, but learn from from them.
I am all for setting high standards, but sometimes life gets in the way or sometimes we are just human. But you know what? That’s okay.
Do you struggle with being a perfectionist?
This is Minimalism 