Accept yourself as you are 🫶
Many years ago, I had someone come to me who was feeling incredibly anxious and wound up because she was trying so hard to get something exactly perfect.
She was living in her own little captive world of perfection, trying to make everything look, sound and feel precisely how she believed it should.
And I remember explaining to her that, for me, the way I try to live my life isn’t about perfection.
It’s about doing the very best you can with what you have… and coming from the heart. 💗
I call it my imperfect perfection.
Because when you think about it, all those little things that aren’t quite perfect about you are actually part of what makes you perfectly YOU!
In fact, many years ago I shared a personal story about how a chance encounter with a stranger and a tiny purple wildflower helped me see my own imperfections in a completely different light. 🌸 If you’ve ever struggled to see the beauty in yourself, you might also enjoy reading ✨➡️ Love yourself. Your imperfections make you perfect. 💗
Are you trapping yourself in perfection? 🤔
The reason I’m talking about this today is because I see it happening over and over again. Letting go of perfectionism doesn’t mean giving up on your dreams or lowering your standards. It simply means learning to appreciate yourself and your journey, even when things don’t turn out exactly as you imagined.
People striving for this completely perfect picture of how their life, relationships, work or circumstances should look… and then practically torturing themselves because reality doesn’t match that picture.
Now, I’m not talking about situations where accuracy genuinely matters. If you’re writing technical code, performing surgery or baking a very particular recipe, then of course, getting things right can have a significant impact on the outcome! But that’s not the kind of perfection I’m talking about.
I’m talking about the mental picture you have of how things should be versus how they actually seem to be. And I say seem because sometimes, simply changing the way you look at something can change how you experience it.
When you continually tell yourself, “It has to look exactly like THIS or it won’t be good enough!”, you’re narrowing your ability to feel satisfied, happy and grateful. You’re essentially building your own little cage… and then sitting inside it wondering why you feel so trapped! 😱
Now, I’m not judging. If you want to strive for a very specific outcome, that’s absolutely your choice. But recognise that you’re the one setting those expectations, and you can also choose how much pressure you allow them to place on you.
What if things don't go to plan? 🙃
Here’s another way to look at it…
Imagine you’re about to meet someone. Perhaps it’s a date, a business meeting or an opportunity you’ve been really excited about.
You have this beautiful picture in your mind of how it’s all going to unfold. “This is going to be amazing! It’s going to open doors for me. It’s going to lead to something wonderful!”
And then… it doesn’t.
The meeting doesn’t go as expected. Someone says the wrong thing, perhaps you say something you wish you hadn’t, or the whole situation simply develops differently from what you’d imagined.
What happens next? You could go home and replay it over and over again…
“If only I’d said this…”
“Why did they do that?”
“It should have happened differently!”
And before you know it, you’re trapped again. Not necessarily by what actually happened, but by your attachment to how you believed it should have happened.
You can have goals AND let go 🙌
Now, I’m certainly not suggesting that you shouldn’t have goals or aspirations. Quite the opposite! Go into that meeting with a desired outcome. Work towards the things you want. Give them your very best effort.
But as life unfolds, allow yourself to accept what’s actually happening, even when it doesn’t match the picture you originally had in your mind.
Perhaps something didn’t work out. Perhaps you made a mistake. Perhaps someone else did. That’s okay.
We can acknowledge it, learn from it and move forward. What we don’t need to do is keep dragging ourselves back into the past, replaying every little imperfection as though thinking about it another hundred times will somehow change what happened! Because it won’t.
And all that mental replaying can prevent us from enjoying the present moment we’re actually living in. Let. It. Go.
Your imperfect moments create the perfect YOU ✨
Think about all the moments that make up your life. Some are wonderful. Some are challenging. Some go exactly as planned, and others… well, not so much! 😂 But as they stack up, they create the person you are today.
The beautiful moments AND the imperfect moments are all part of your unique self.
I embrace my imperfect self because my imperfections are what make me me. They’re the little aspects of my personality, creativity and individuality that make me different from you. And your imperfections are part of what make you wonderfully different from me! 💗
Imagine if we all had exactly the same qualities, personalities, experiences and creative expressions. How boring would that be?! It’s those little differences that make each of us unique.
Striving for a goal isn't the same as demanding perfection ⚖️
And here’s something I really want you to understand… Striving for a goal and striving for perfection are two different things.
Having an aspiration can pull you forward. It gives you something to work towards, something to learn from and something to grow into. But demanding that everything be perfect, every step of the way, can keep you stuck.
Because when your happiness depends entirely on things matching a very narrow picture of perfection, you’re continually finding reasons to be dissatisfied.
You can become so focused on what isn’t quite right that you forget to appreciate everything that already is. And that’s where gratitude comes in. 🌱
You can be grateful for what you have right now, while still working towards what you desire. You can learn from yesterday without living in it. And you can move into tomorrow without demanding that every single moment unfolds exactly as you imagined.
You can grow, learn, aspire and achieve… while embracing your imperfections along the way.
Embrace your imperfect perfection 💖
So, if you’ve been putting pressure on yourself to get everything just right, perhaps this is your little reminder to loosen that grip.
Do the best you can with what you have. Come from the heart.
Allow yourself to learn from the moments that don’t go quite as planned, and be grateful for the moments you’re experiencing right now. Because you don’t need to be perfect to be worthy, happy or fulfilled.
You are already perfectly YOU, imperfections and all! 🥰
And as you continue growing, learning and moving through each present moment with gratitude, you’ll become more and more beautiful in your own unique way.
Big love to you always 💖
Thank You, Melissa,!
Thank you so much for stopping by David, and you are most welcome! Remember, you are beautiful as you are ✨🌷💗