Have you ever heard of the saying "Practice makes perfect?" We hear it all the time and then we start to chase this idea of perfection in anything we do. It can be work, health, or even our own selves.
The truth is, we should aim to be better, not to be perfect.
As someone who has been very results driven her whole life, I always try to give my 100% effort, even if I don't feel like it somedays. This has led to me sometimes pushing my limits past a healthy point.
Recently, I started taking on more responsibilities at my job, to the point that I dream about work even when it is over! I realized that my body needed rest the other night when I got home, so I dropped into bed and slept for 4 consecutive hours.
I have realized that doing anything over a long period of time may not make you an expert, but it certainly makes you better than when you first started. You may just need to go through a period of adjustment at first, and that is often the daunting part. You might be saying to yourself "Obviously you are better than you first started, it's just common sense!" But the truth is, we can't expect ourselves to ever be perfect.
Although we may be tempted to compare our progress and skills with someone else, we may not know what part of their journey they are at. They could have been trying to master these skills over many years, or just a few months more than you. Either way, you are doing yourself a great disservice if you are always comparing yourself to others. It is just a game you can never win.
If you continually practice anything, it can become a habit and eventually even become second nature. However, when you strive for perfection, this habit can become toxic and even self-destructive.
Funny enough, this whole issue of being perfect to start is something that holds a lot of us back in our lives. Because of this, we may grow to have regrets and wish we had done something when we had the chance.
Progress allows us to discover ourselves, and maybe even find out that what we have doing for years does not serve us. Perfection robs us of our joy and makes us start comparing our worth to others, so I think the choice between which to strive for is obvious.
The truth of the matter is no one starts off perfect and no one will ever be perfect, but we can always progress to become better, and that is what is truly important.