Perfectionism can keep you fat, stuck, safe, and ultimately it can suck the very life out you. If left unchallenged and unchecked, it can result in an unlived life, or at least, a safe life that doesn’t change or challenge you much. It can also cost you money and time, as it can keep you from taking risks and growing in your career.
If you want to break free from the chains of perfectionism, the first thing you need to do is to give yourself permission to make mistakes and even fall flat on your face. You need to reframe how you view mistakes. Mistakes aren’t bad; they’re how you learn and grow.
Falling flat on your face is one of the best things that can happen to a perfectionist. I know, because I’ve done it many times. The reason it’s so wonderful is that you learn you can survive it; it’s not such a big deal after all. It then frees you up to take bigger risks and your life is only as big as the risks you’re willing to take.
Fear of making mistakes is all about ego and image. You’re trying to preserve an image of yourself as perfect or you have a fear of being judged, criticized, looking foolish, or worse yet, dumb.
When you can accept you’re human and fallible like everybody else, you become more humble and willing to put yourself out there and you don’t have to appear like you’ve got it all together. You can surrender fully to the process and that’s when life, weight loss, and any others changes become a heck of a lot more fun.
Andy Warhol used to say, “Sometimes people let the same problem make them miserable for years when they could just say, so what.” When you can fall on your face, get back up, and say, "So what", you’re well on your way to being a recovering perfectionist.
P. S. If you find some typos in this newsletter...well, so what!
