There I was hurriedly hoovering yesterday when I ran out of cord.  Do I run up the stairs and move it down or….hmmm I thought,  “Do I really have to reach every nook and crannie down here?” …to which my inner voice yelled a resounding “No!”  Then I ‘heard’ a most surprising thought;

“I don’t do perfect when it comes to hoovering!”

Next thoughts…  “What can I do ‘perfect’ on then?  When is ‘perfect’ allowable?”  (Yes, if you are wondering, I do often have conversations with my Self like this! It’s a Highly Sensitive woman’s perogative!).

Here is what I came up with.  I go for ‘perfect’ when I am editing or following a recipe, stuff like that.  Of course it doesn’t necessarily mean it comes out perfectly.  Ideas, for instance, are never perfect and the best of recipes can certainly fail.

Being ‘perfect’ and being a ‘perfectionist’ are 2 different things.
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I gave up perfectionism decades ago!  What a relief.  Now I am a selective perfectionist.  I decide pro-actively what I choose to be ‘perfect’ about.   I will unapologetically try for ‘perfect’ on some things, like making sure there are no typos in this article.  (Now some perfectionist out there is going to search for one…should I give them one?)  Coming from this new view of being or doing perfect is vastly different than believing from the bottom of my soul that I am not good enough unless I am ‘perfect’.  I mean, after all… Perfect at what?  Perfect how?  Perfect when?  I never could, and still can’t, answer these questions.

Being an unfulfilled perfectionist only brings angst!
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Having embraced ‘selective perfectionism’ means I have grown to the point of being pretty OK with goofing-up.   Say, for example, choosing ‘the perfect’ paint colour for a room, if you are anything like me that might take a few tries!  (Apologies to Nancy, my interior designer back in Canada to whom I promised, hand on heart, never to pick a colour again!)  Now, in the past, not choosing the ‘perfect’ colour would have been a huge personal failure.  Now, I’m more likely to laugh or cringe.  It’s just paint, so I paint again…or find another designer!

Embrace being a ‘selective’ perfectionist, love your ‘perfect’ side and know what it’s great for!

Wow, so there is an upside to boring old hoovering!  It’s good for thinking about stuff… even unperfect ideas like this.  So, our Darling Burnout Queens, crowns off to perfectionism!  I’m off to hoover!

Carry on and be perfect!

PS.  The BOQs would love to hear from you!  Leave your wisdom and comments in the box below.