Let's talk about anxieties or as I like to call them-the 16 deadly fears. Well today, we'll only talk about one, but as the weeks progress, we'll cover all of them. Today, fear of imperfection.
I know this one pretty good. It screams at me each time I sit down to write, get ready for a class, or give a lecture. What if I make a fool of myself and people discover how 'stupid' I really am? That's the big voice.
Over the years, I've learned people are imperfect. Find me a perfect person and we'll discuss what he's hiding.
From the outside, when I was growing up, my family looked perfect. Us kids did what we were told, dad went to work, mom stayed home with us kids, sewed clothes, and baked birthday cakes. We went to church, took in foster kids, and kept our lawn manicured to perfection.
On the inside, there was verbal, physical, and mental abuse with an influence of sexual abuse thrown in for good measure.
My family was faaaaaarrrrr from normal. If Dr. Phil would have looked in, he would call us one of the most 'dysfunctional' families in the country.
I chuckle when I hear people describe other families as 'normal'. That word begs the question, 'what's normal?' There's no such thing as normal as there is no such thing as perfect.
I love people who have flaws. I think often of President Ford and him hitting his head on Air Force One. People made fun of him (forever), but to me it showed his human-ness. He was a real guy. Give me an individual any day who can trip over his own feet, have Freudian slips, get lost in traffic and laugh at himself and I'll show you a well rounded individual.
Get over being perfect because if you think you are, chances are you're high up there on the imperfect scale. We all sleep, eat, and as Jay Leno once said, poop. We're humans. Our flaws make us so darn cute.
Til later~