It’s easy to blame our parents for the real or imagined, intentional or unintentional ways they hurt us when we were too young to question the validity of the messages they gave us about our own self-worth. Once we become adults, they are no longer responsible for our personal journeys through life. Now the enemy is within.
We are the ones who shame ourselves now. We are the ones with overblown egos, arrogantly insisting that the same flaws we find acceptable in other people are unacceptable in ourselves.
If we stay stuck living the tediously painful life of the perfectionistic striver, we examine every move we make in light of, “Was it good enough?” This is far too high a price to pay for maintaining the illusion that we might be able to rise above human frailty. As we try to make our way, we are certain to mess up again and again. We must make our inevitable mistakes, face our foolishness, forgive ourselves as best we can, and go on.
Perfection is one goal that guarantees failure.