I knew I was a perfectionist the day I got into a car crash on the way to high school.
The accident totaled our family’s pretty blue Chrysler Concorde, and I wasn’t in great shape either. Thankfully I didn’t sustain significant physical injuries, but I was hyperventilating, trembling, and generally traumatized.
Still, my tears were barely dry when I insisted on going straight to school.
Why? Well, I thought that since I’d already screwed up by getting into the accident and missing two classes, taking a day off was out of the question.
Though I would never have asked a frightened friend to soldier on like that, I demanded it of myself.
I had to keep striving. There was no room for letting myself be looked after. I couldn’t afford to make yet another mistake.