After the Christmas holidays and numerous visits with family/friends, we often find ourselves tired and exhausted. No wonder. We’ve been planning, gone groceries shopping, cooking, entertaining, and cleaning. Tons of fun, but at the same time a lot of work. Maybe you grew up in an environment where Christmas and any other holiday had to be perfect – and you had to be perfect, too: always the hardest working, the smartest, the prettiest, the most successful, and the list goes on and on and on. Living a life of superlatives is exhausting, though, and you’re very likely to end up in burnout. If you are expected to excel in all areas of your life all the time, what do you think is going to happen? When you're exposed to excessive stress for an extended period of time, you’ll be really miserable and exhausted – both physically and mentally. I am not going to lecture you on all the adverse physical and emotional effects of chronic stress. You probably already know how bad stress is for you. All I will say is this: remember we’re human beings, not human doings.
Could you do me a favor and briefly think of your best friend or a loved one for a moment? Now ask yourself if you would expect them to be perfect all the time. I bet you would not! I guess you’d be understanding, compassionate, and reassuring. If they told you they just can’t keep up with the high standards they set for themselves any longer, I am pretty sure you would encourage them to not be so hard on themselves and adjust their expectations. And isn't it the rather weird day with lots of imperfect things happening that's making the best stories later on?
What's really concerning is that we feel the need to go, go, go all the time due to this nagging feeling of not being good enough and - even worse - our fear of being rejected.
At the end of the old year and the beginning of the New Year 2025, let me remind you to pause for a minute. Be kind to yourself, let go of all perfectionism, and reflect on how much you are loved and accepted for who you are, not for what you do. As Dr. Seuss states in one of his famous quotes: "To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world."
Did you know? There’s science behind perfectionism and mental health. Numerous studies have shown that perfectionism is associ-ated with higher levels of anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and pathological worry. Who knew that getting rid of perfec-tionism could have so many beneficial effects?! Not sweating the small stuff is important indeed.
My moment of gratitude: Today I am really happy to have found my resolution for 2025: Let go of perfectionism and cut myself some slack!