Mom was a perfectionist. She constantly challenged me to do better. As a result, I struggle with feelings of not being good enough. Yesterday one of the saints stopped by my study to chat. He does this regularly. Yesterday he was talking about his competitive nature, and how he finally decided to step away from competitive running as a result.
As he began to apologize for the diversion, I thanked him for the message. I can become so driven in my quest for perfection that I push volunteers too hard. We are working on a big program for fall, and I've been in danger of crossing the line and pushing too hard without regard for the needs and limitations of volunteers.
Yesterday's conversation and the insight it gave me into my behavior is one of the reasons why I appreciate the encounters I have with members who drop by. Those conversations often provide me with insight, often into the member or the church, occasionally into my own actions and behavior. I view them as a gift from God.
The downside, of course, is that those visits do make it hard to have concentrated time to do study and planning. I'm going to begin taking some blocks of time away from the church to do some of that work. Prioritizing my work and how I spend my time is an ongoing challenge. I'm still working to figure out the best rhythm for my work here in Capital.
3 comments:
There's no such thing as perfection; there's always room for improvement. You're better off when you try to do your best and let it go at that. I've personally found that perfectionists are rarely happy unless they're pointing out someone else's shortcomings.
I've also noticed that adult children of alcoholics are often perfectionists.
I work hard at not being critical, and with doing my best and forgetting about perfection. Most of the time I do very well with that, but I recognized this week I was in danger of slipping into perfectionism. There has not been any alcoholism contributing to my family's perfectionist tendencies.
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