I'm writing this in my quote journal. Such insight, Moe. I was recently part of a conversation in the parking lot after a support group meeting about the importance of "showing up perfectly imperfect" and how powerful it is to allow others - especially kids - to see that it's okay to messy, emotional, and full of mistakes. Perfectionism is a dirty lie. Life is complicated and there's a larger margin for error than I was lead to believe growing up.I always want everything to be perfect before I start. I can't stand the idea that my life in the future will be messy like my life in the present, only better by degrees from incremental work. But it is not realistic to expect everything to be perfect. Start now, in this imperfect way.
I had the example of having made an utter mess of my taxes this year - lost 3 of 4 W-2s and on my state taxes omitted one of the pages of the document when I mailed it - but, you know what, it was no big deal. Nothing bad happened. We got our W-2's gathered and when I received the letter from the state, I reprinted and mailed the completed form. I messed up and nothing bad happened. Because I've been working my recovery so hard, I didn't even beat myself up. Some minor inconvenience and it was done. No blame, no drama. That's how I want all my mistakes to go from here on out.
