Perfect is the cure for happiness

That's the adage and its a book.  Yesterday I did a leadership course through my corporate job and part of that was receiving 360 degree feedback.  Its always a learning experience having 8 other people answer over 200 questions about you and then comparing that to the responses you gave yourself!

I had one area that was exactly the same results from both sides - Perfectionism.  Its no surprise really I know I am a perfectionist and if you asked my friends, family and colleagues I don't think you'd find anyone who would disagree.  I strive to be the best I can be and believe that anyone who wants to be their best can be with hard work and determination.  That belief was a gift from my mother and grandmother.  Two strong women.

To be honest I've never had a problem with it and even when my coach pushed me yesterday to try and figure out the areas of my life that striving for perfection adds stress to I just couldn't pinpoint anything.  If anything I was trying to convince her it makes my life easier!  Am I just fooling myself? And why am I even questioning it?

Because I have just finished reading a series of posts entitled Perfectly Imperfect.  This was an initiative started by Kate from picklebums.  I have to give my respect to all the bloggers that posted, their honesty is what is now make me question my blase acceptance of my perfectionism.  Whilst I don't have kids yet and most of the posts are about mothers analysing their needs to be the perfect mother I think the message is still clear - maybe 80% is good enough, acceptable or even better than perfection.  Maybe it shows others that you are real, that you too fail and sometimes doubt what you are doing.

I am not perfect, I stuff up, I say things I shouldn't, I get angry too quick sometimes, I don't go to all the family events I'm invited to (you should see how many there are!) I never answer the phone and lately I have been lazy with the garden.  This is what happens when you neglect your garden!

But that is who I am, I also do good things.  I'll help you with whatever problem you have, I'll jump into new projects feet first and I've given a whole weekend away without even realising it, I'll be there for my family whenever they need me regardless of the past.

I don't have kids yet (hopefully soon) and I am going to take the opportunity to lessen my perfectionisic (is that a word??) tendencies before they come, I want to enjoy motherhood as much as I can, so I'm going to learn from all the amazing women who took the time to do a Perfectly Imperfect post.

Sally