The Energized Woman

I’ve attempted to write this post several times today, only to get interrupted time and time again.  I do hope I can share what I want to say before the next interruption arrives (or perhaps the distractions have been welcome?).

I make an effort to post something to my blog at least once or twice per week.  What I have been noticing over the past few months is that most of my posts have been links to audios that I have done, with just a little blurb from me included.  Since I love to write, I started to question why it is that my blog has taken on such a non-writing form.

After much thought over the past few weeks, what I have come up with is that because writing is an area that I feel is a strength of mine (even my friends from high school still recall the A+ markings I got on my papers;-), my perfectionist tendencies show up more than in an area that I don’t consider myself to be as strong.  Even now, as I write this, I find myself re-reading what I have written and wondering about alternative ways of forming my sentences and selecting perhaps different words. 

But I’m going to allow what flows today to be enough.  Instead of looking at what I post as something that has to be profound or that will be evaluated by everyone reading, I’m going to lean into a different perspective:  when I share, in writing, my real thoughts and views, I trust that somebody will benefit, and that the more I am myself the more people will feel like they connect with me on some level. 

Striving for perfection in the writing area has led me into that all-too-familiar territory of all-or-nothing thinking.  I either write profound, life-changing posts several times a week, OR I don’t really write at all.  And, unfortunately, for several months my experience has been the latter.

I see this type of thinking show up in a lot of areas, not only in my own life but in the lives of others.  The health arena is famous for this way of thinking (just think about all those New Year’s Resolutions that people set…).  I would imagine that, if you’ve ever set a health goal for yourself, you can identify with this.  For example, when you want to eat healthier and you decide on a rigid daily eating plan…after a few days you’re not following the plan perfectly, and so instead of allowing for some flexibility and appreciating where you are succeeding, you discard the plan altogether.  It’s either you do all of it, exactly as laid out, or you do nothing…

What about you?  Is there something in your life that you currently have unrealistic expectations about, and these are leading you into the “nothing” direction?  If you can’t do it perfectly, then you end up not doing it at all?

I know that this will continue to be a challenge for me, because even in the last few minutes I have changed some of my wording and re-arranged a few sentences.  But, at least I’m getting this out there.  Because if I don’t get “myself” out of my head and onto the paper, so to speak, then how will anyone ever benefit, how will anyone ever learn anything from me, how will anyone ever be served?

Where are you holding yourself back, because you’re convinced that you have to be perfect?  I certainly don’t have all of the answers, and this is definitely an area that I am, and probably always will be, a work-in-progress, but I do encourage you to ease up on yourself and allow yourself to open up to some middle ground.  And, as I am reminding myself, there is, indeed, a lot of middle ground in which to participate.

I invite you to leave a comment and share an area of your life that you’re currently experiencing this type of thinking in; I’d love to hear from you and support you in your journey.  My response to your comment won’t be perfect, but it will be real, and it will be from me;-).