Imperfect perfection; who needs it?

Image by <littleyiye> via Flickr

The world is a messy, disorganized place. The human world at least – Hashem’s creation is amazingly complex and perfect.

There it is. The “P” word. Perfect.

I’m the kind of girl who longs for perfection. In fact, I think that many of us long for perfection. The perfect evening, the perfect spouse, the perfect house, the perfect pet, the perfect chore chart, the perfect SBB, the perfect time for…whatever it is, perfect is preferred. And we don’t want to do something if it’s not going to be perfect.

But the quest for perfection is setting us up for failure. Because really, which person can reach, let alone maintain perfection? I dream big and in color. I know that wanting things to be “just right” can keep me from starting something. I might really need to do a project (like a SBB update or a chore chart revamp), but the enormity of getting it right can hold me back from even starting!

I’m working on accepting imperfection as normal and OK. For example, I have a little book that I write my ideas and lists in, and it’s not perfect. I have to stop myself from trying to “correct” it daily (and then not wanting to write in it because it’s finally perfect), because it is so functional as it is! Sure, the pages aren’t perfectly in order–Monday’s to do list might have scrawled recipes in it and be followed by an outline for a post I am working on instead of Tuesday’s list. I can close up the book, though, and it looks neat from the outside. And that works for me.

So you don’t have to have a perfect outline of your year’s resolutions to draw up this week’s or months goals. You don’t need to arrange your month of menus to put together this week’s. And you don’t have to have a perfect notebook with the right amount of neatly labeled dividers to do this week’s challenge and start a working SBB.

Just start with something that you are drawn to. You can do it! You will be happy you did.

What do you think?