* This post is by contributing writer Kara. She more of her posts here.
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Morning! Today I want to talk about perfection…
What does perfection mean to you?
We often have this idea in our heads that we have to be perfect. Perfect job, perfect family, perfect friends, perfect diet, perfect body, perfect LIFE. Given I work in the fitness industry, perfect body and perfect diet come up more often than any other and rightfully so in the society we currently live in.
I had a client come in the other day and say she has finally come to terms with the fact that she doesn’t have to be perfect, that she can’t be perfect. Thank. God. The last 6 weeks have been really hard for me as I watched her beat herself up emotionally every day so when she came in and said perfection isn’t attainable, I about cried.
Two summers ago I HAD, in my mind, the perfect diet and the perfect workout program. I was the leanest and fittest I had ever been. I was extremely disciplined and thrived on the fact that I was doing what others struggled to do. While those two components of my life were perfect, let me tell you what wasn’t….
My relationship with my (ex) boyfriend, my relationship with my friends as I continually isolated myself, my mood which was so volatile that I didn’t even want to be around myself, my body that was falling apart because I was pushing it too much, my dedication to my clients because I was so tired that I couldn’t give them my all and my smile which ceased to exist.
Sure my diet, my workouts and my body were in my mind perfect but what was really important was not. I find we say that we will be happy when we are thinner, leaner, stronger, richer, more muscular, faster…the list goes on. I kept telling myself that same damn thing. I would be perfect if I was XYZ. Then hip surgery happened and those 3 perfect things in my life ceased to exist. Now what?
Almost a year later my body isn’t what it was, my nutrition isn’t perfect and my body still runs the show on how much I can do physically. But I no longer strive for perfection because not only is it not possible but I have found that perfection is in the eye of the beholder. Perfect for me is different than perfect for you and for the person standing next to you.
I’ve said this before on my blog and I will say it again: live your life in a way that is congruent with where you are at in your life. Try not to strive for perfection. Humans are not meant to be perfect because quite frankly, it’s boring. Trust me. Don’t compare your chapter 1 with someone else’s chapter 20 . It’s a life long journey that should be enjoyable.
So I’ll end the same way I started but take it a little further…
What does perfection mean to you and why do you need to be perfect?
