“How do I stop being a perfectionist? How do you move away from perfectionism?”
These are the questions you ask, and on one level the answers are simple.
We shift out of perfectionism through daily, real-world action, rewriting our old patterns of behavior and belief.
But you’re not just asking for the how-to. You’re asking for the hope. You’re asking, “Is it really possible for us to change?”
Let me tell you a story.
Something miraculous happened to me recently.
The other night, I was typing at my laptop, responding to emails, ordering gifts for friends, and ignoring the drifts of cat fur that grow larger by the day.
Nearly a half an hour went by before I stood up and walked toward our kitchen. It was only then that I remembered: I’d left a pot of rice cooking on the stove.
“Oh no!” I yelped. “I forgot about the rice! Shoot and sugar muffins!”
(If you hang around me long enough, you’ll hear creative alternatives to swear words; it’s a holdover from growing up “so totally relig”.)
Have you ever had your world turned upside down by a single sentence? Have you ever felt someone else’s words unlock a caged place within your heart and set you free from fear?
If so, then this story is for you.
It begins with me spending a month in a residential rehab called The Clearing.
I am here for work – I’m a copywriter on The Clearing’s team, writing ebooks and essays – but I am also here for my own healing.
(They tried to make me go to rehab, and I said yes.)
On this particular day in workshop, we are learning about self-forgiveness. We are offering ourselves compassion for our judgments against ourselves and others.
Then The Clearing’s co-founder and CEO Joe Koelzer tells us, almost offhandedly, “Oh, and by the way, you don’t have to worry about asking God for forgiveness.”
At this, I cannot help but raise my hand and say, “Wait … you don’t?”
