The importance of self compassion in an imperfect world

I’ve been reading and listening to a lot of Seth Godin lately, and today’s post is just stealing his ideas in the hopes that someone else sees them and can use them because I know I can use them.

Seeking perfection in any sort of work that you do is frequently considered neurotic, but then rarely thought about after that label is attached to it. “Oh, I’m a perfectionist, I can’t show this to you yet.” And the listener nods and smiles and neither person thinks beyond that sentence.

“I’m a perfectionist and I can’t show this to you yet because I’m afraid that it’s not good enough for you to like because I’m afraid that I’m not good enough to like and you’ll realize that when you see this completely imperfect thing that I have done.”

That sounds a little more like the complete statement

So, dear reader, ask yourself this. Have you ever gotten the wrong food at a restaurant and hated the person that made it or hated the person that brought it to you? You may have asked for other food, or the correct order, but that was basically all that you thought about it. You wanted the food that you wanted, and you didn’t get it, and you asked for that situation to be fixed.

Also, if you’re a jerk to your server, the important part of that sentence is the phrase, “you’re a jerk.”

I’ve started reading books and decided to not finish them. I’ve looked at paintings and walked away after a few seconds. I’ve heard a song on the radio and changed the station.

And that’s all that happened.

So remember that in your own process of creating whatever you create in the world. If it’s not perfect, no one will bother hating you. They might not like you much, they might not fall in love with you, they might not pay you for whatever you are doing, but they already don’t like you or love you or pay you because they don’t know you at all. So create whatever you want to create, do whatever you want to do, and remember that it was never possible for it to be perfect, so it’s completely ok that it isn’t perfect.