Perfection

I came across the following quote by author Anna Quindlen, "The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself." You see, I am a perfectionist. I get caught up in the little details and the little worries of life because those are the things that are most often staring me in the face and begging for attention. Why do I give those things such importance?

Looking beyond the imperfections, embracing them even, is difficult and amazing and really a whole lot easier than striving for perfection. My days are better when I let some of the "little things" in life go by without a second thought, especially those "little things" that are personal. Things like remembering that it's okay to say no when asked to do something I really don't want to do. Things like whether or not my hair is frizzy or my makeup is done. Some days, it's just not going to happen, because I'm a human being who is occasionally lazy. Go me! I could continue with examples, but I'm sure you can all think of some for me.

The most important point I would like to make is, when you are trying to be perfect, it can keep you from becoming who you really want to be. You spend all your time and energy keeping up the appearance of perfection and the real you, the one with all sorts of awesome quirks and flaws, just gets pushed aside. No one is perfect. Not a single person on this earth. It's refreshing to take a moment and remember that, isn't it? Perfection is overrated and unattainable, but happiness, honest to goodness happiness with who you are as a person, is something worthy of your time and effort.