Hi, my name is Natasha, and I’m a perfectionist.
Well, I’m a recovering perfectionist, I guess you could say.
These last few weeks I’ve had a few things on my to-do list, each day the list growing longer, as I haven’t been ticking some items off. They haven’t been getting done, well simply, because I wasn’t able to do them perfectly.
Reality check.
I don’t intend to trivialise people with addictions of physical substances, however for me this is an addiction.
I am addicted to the security of when something is done ‘right’ - then I wont’ be judged, shamed, embarrassed and all those other (not so) wonderful feelings of inadequacy I feel. When in reality, is anyone with any importance, outside of myself, actually watching to give two hoots?
Fear of judgement, for me, can cause me anxiety. I know that this is the same for many people.
My boys are 6 and 8 years old. I feel their anxiety too - when they push their boundaries to try something new, only to not get it perfect. Their result is followed by ‘good on you for trying’ in an upbeat voice – which sometimes they find even more frustrating to hear. I remind them that I have had 42 years of practice.
I need to start doing better listening to my own insight and advice.
Our journeys, traumas, triggers are all different - but what is the same, is that we keep repeating the same behaviours for the sense of security.
My goal today is getting something done, because done is better than perfect. The perfect part can come later. It will come later.
And once its done, all the good hormones can start doing their stuff. Serotonin and dopamine are your friends. Not sure what those two things are? Well in simple terms – they are the human bodies reward system – sticker chart – trophy – winners podium. Whatever it is to you – its reward in its human body form.
And its good stuff.
The human body doesn’t know that it hasn’t been done perfectly, it just knows that you got it done.
Once you get the good hormones going, you’re unstoppable. Well that’s what happens for me. You should give it a try some time.
Right. I’m off to conquer some more of my to-do list.
What are you doing next?
Need more practical tips to get your stuff done? Grab my 3 tips to getting stuff done (without the fluff). HERE
Copyright Natasha Loohuys 2023
