How to Let Go of Perfectionism to Be a Happier You!

How to Let Go of Perfectionism  

Perfection isn’t something anyone can achieve. The magic is in learning how to let go of perfectionism and live a happy life accepting yourself as you are. Here are nine reasons why you should let it go:

1. It frees up your time. When you’re not obsessing about making your body perfect or your project perfect, you have more time to spend on other projects or passions.
2. You’ll feel better. You’ll have less stress which can cause depression, insomnia or other physical problems, from weight gain to high blood pressure.
3. Once you stop obsessing, you begin to enjoy life more. The people around you will be happier as well.
4. Letting go of perfection allows you to make mistakes. It lets you move past the worry and fear that what you do or who you are won’t be perfect.
5. You’ll quickly realize life isn’t perfect. You’ll see that the universe is chaotic. For example, your best programmer might get sick in the middle of a big project, or the hard drive on your laptop may fail. It’s in your best interest to control what you can and accept the rest.
6. Accepting imperfection allows you to grow. Trying to be perfect keeps you stagnant.
7. If you let go of perfection, you’ll become more aware of what near-perfection looks like. You’ll see it in the beauty of someone’s smile or in the laughter coming from a simple mistake that doesn’t really matter.
8. You’ll begin to practice self-compassion. You’ll begin to accept yourself as the way you are. Our flaws are what contribute to our uniqueness.
9. Embracing imperfection allows you to examine your fear of failure or of making mistakes and helps you understand why they’re holding you back. It lets you see what is really behind those fears. I like to do a three-step examination of what’s causing that fear. It goes something like this:
   1. Name the basic fear: Fear of failing
   2. What’s behind that fear? Keep narrowing it down until you get to the core of the fear. Are you afraid of being laughed at? Are you afraid of not being liked? If so, why? Just remember we aren’t in a high school popularity contest in life. Our life is ours to be lived as we feel is best.
   3. What would happen if you failed? Would it cause a major catastrophe or a health problem?

Here are 3 ways you can let go of perfection:

Change any negative self-talk. Critical self-talk only reinforces perfectionism.

Practice self-compassion. Being compassionate with yourself helps you accept you will make mistakes and allows you to learn from those mistakes.

Spend time examining your goals and expectations. Are they attainable? If not, change them or break them down into smaller steps.

Letting go of perfection and embracing imperfection really allow you to become a happier person. You become free to pursue what you want that will make your life successful, whether that’s in your profession, your relationships or as an individual.

Be Your Best You!

Cheryl A Major