We live in a society where if we don’t get it right the first time, we beat ourselves up and torment ourselves unnecessarily. There is this unspoken rule especially on social media that everything should always be perfect the first time. Luxury is the new norm so when you live a regular life and compare yourself to those on social media, you begin to belittle your current circumstances.
There’s always a lofty goal to aim for, there’s always a big dream to achieve, there’s always a doubter to prove wrong. We become so engrossed in perfectionism, doing everything right and looking good for social media that we tend to neglect ourselves in the process. There are many dangers in perfectionism and in today’s society, we have to be careful and ensure that we are not allowing perfectionism to ruin our lives. So what is perfectionism? Good Therapy defines perfectionism as “the need to be or appear to be perfect, or even to believe that it’s possible to achieve perfection.” While there are positive benefits of healthy perfectionism, here are some dangers of perfectionism to be on the look out for.
Lies in your head: Becoming too attached to perfectionism means when things don’t go our way, the enemy comes out to play. The enemy then begins to plant seeds of lies in our mind. “You’re not good enough. You’re not smart enough. You’re not pretty enough. You’re dumb, you’re stupid, you will never amount to anything, this world would be better without you in it.” Do not feed in to the lies. It is important for you to guard your heart and mind. Do not allow the lies to control you mind. When the lies creep in, cut it off and replace it with positive affirmations.
Overwork yourself: When you become so attached to perfectionism, you begin to put work above your mental health. During the times when you should be resting, you’re stressing and overworking yourself. I saw a post that said “I’m not trying to be booked and busy. Instead I want to be well paid and well rested.” What if God wanted you to work smarter and not harder? There is no reward at the end of the day for those who overwork.
Procrastination: Being so caught up in perfectionism may also result in you never doing anything. Since you always want everything perfect, you may always find something wrong with a plan that you are working on which will result in you feeling like it will never be good enough. I often hear “Done is better than perfect” and it is so true. Imagine how many dreams have died because someone thought they weren’t good enough and their idea wasn’t good enough. Don’t let your dream die in your mind. Do not allow the pressure to be perfect to cause you to procrastinate and never bring your ideas to fruition.
It is important to ensure that you do everything to the best of your ability but don’t allow perfectionism to consume you to the point where you believe the lies in your head, overwork yourself and procrastinate and never do anything. God has created you for such a time as this to unleash your gifts and talents in the earth. Don’t allow perfectionism to interfere with God’s plan for your life. One of my teachers always said “Aim for perfection but it’s okay to settle for excellence.”
Schar's Mind 