PERFECTIONISM #1 or how to avoid failure but also growth.

If there’s ONE thing I and many, MANY other creatives struggle with, it’s perfectionism. That thing we like to wear as a batch of honor, but actually just – stifles us. Thanks…

The thing with perfectionism is that more often than not it’s a VERY well covered up avoidance strategy. We might perceive it as ambition, which is a good thing, right? But actually, one of the main reasons we use it is so we won’t get hurt. Because someone, somewhere along the way, told us that what we were doing and how we were doing it was „wrong“, „not good enough“. And that, as simple as it sounds, hurts. Most of us will have encountered such criticism (which doesn’t even go into specifics) at a very young age. And what do children do when something hurts emotionally? They learn and adapt. Fast. VERY fast. And even faster than that, without realizing it, many of them grow into adults who will avoid EVERYTHING they aren’t good at already.

In extreme cases this leads to missing out of (social) experiences, things they wished they learned but never dared because they are not „naturally“ gifted (whatever that’s supposed to mean) and just an unfulfilled life because many of them don’t even dare to start trying. And to be honest – I am no exception. I struggle with perfectionism a LOT. As I am writing this blog article about a topic which it could NEVER entirely cover, I have NO clue about blogging. But I rented this domain, this space on the internet, and I decided to let it grow organically. Maybe I will leave WordPress some day. Maybe I will find somebody who can help me with it, explain it to me in more detail. Maybe I will shift to another platform. Maybe this article will reach no one, and I’ve just written it for practice. But one thing is sure, I will learn, and I will get better, which is just more satisfying than not moving at all.

So! Does perfectionism spare us the pain of being perceived as not talented, „bad“ at something? Yes. Does it limit us? HELL YES! Make of that what you will. I will leave this article as imperfect as it is now.

Bye.