My son likes to watch those “most satisfying” videos. Have you ever seen them? They make things neat, orderly…perfect. They’re amazingly calming and, yes, satisfying. But most things in life aren’t like that. Most things are messy, disorderly…imperfect.
The idea of perfection is flawed. What in this life is perfect? A sunset? A baby’s laugh? A Pilates in Holland class? 😉 I can’t think of anything of human creation or origin that is. Those “most satisfying” videos are about as close to perfection as I think we come. Everything else comes down to trying, learning, and gaining confidence.
And boy have we had a chance to learn that lesson these last few weeks. Things we thought couldn’t happen, happened. Things we thought we would never be able to do, we did. Things we thought we couldn’t let go of, we gave up. Or maybe just figured out a new way to do them.
We may think we see perfection in people around us, but if we were to really look, it is probably an illusion (by their making, or by ours). Chances are, someone out there looks at you and sees perfection too. We look for it and think everyone but us has it. The perfect job, family, body. But it’s important to know that perfection is rarely attained. And we’re usually okay with that, except when it comes to ourselves. Too often we demand perfection in ourselves.
So during this time at home, give yourself permission to suck at something new.
Creating virtual mat classes in a week? Check, we did it. Holding virtual happy hours, game nights, or dance parties? Check, check, and check. Planking for 4 minutes?? Yep. And the hardest: keeping ourselves AND OUR KIDS quarantined for weeks?!? We did that too. Good job everybody.
The idea of perfection is flawed. We are on a journey through this life, and we meet each other where we are. We are just happy to do it with you.
