It’s no secret I’m a recovering perfectionist and still struggle with the wide-range of side effects that come along with it. Recently a guest blog post by Amanda Cahill over at the LimeLife Planner blog caught my eye. Yes, she talks about planners, but she also twanged the perfectionist in me when she wrote about decorative soaps that go unused, pretty planner pages that she never writes on, and entire notebooks and journals that sit on her shelf, unused.
Why are we so afraid to *use* the very items we love? Why do we save them up, waiting for the perfect occasion, and then feel bad when the opportunity passes us by? An easy example of this happens every day at Chez Munder. Mr. Munder has a few favorite clothing items he wears regularly – usually when changing the oil in the car or cleaning the gutters. He wears them, enjoys them, and when they are used up, manages to find another favorite. I, on the other hand, battle the voice of my childhood which tells me not to wear my “good clothes” for everyday, but put on something old that I won’t “ruin”. Usually it’s one of his oil-stained favorites that should have been thrown out ages ago. Truly, this is just another form of perfectionism. One we’re better off without.
We can carry this behavior into our writing as well. Story ideas that never get past a few sentences, blog posts we never publish, social media plans that we continually tweak but never follow. It’s time to stop waiting for the perfect opportunity, or the right day. My challenge this month is to pull my prettiest shirt out of the closet and wear it today – all day. Maybe even at the same time I pull that story idea out of my notebook and let it breathe.
How about you? Do you save items for the “right time”? Have a couple of journals that are too pretty to use? Maybe you are like Amanda and have a linen closet stuffed with decorative soaps and scented candles that you never bring out for the day to day? Want to take a bold step? Join me in using one item, it doesn’t matter what – just grab one clothing item from your closet, a candle you’ve never lit, or a blog post you’ve left unwritten and let yourself love it. Then share how it felt. 🙂