Perfectionism--Tool of the Enemy

Perfectionism. It can be a plague. It can completely take over rational people. It can transform a speed-bump into a full blown mountain peak. There are many segments of my life where I fight perfectionism. I fight against it because it is not healthy. In the past it has turned me into an extreme "over-analyzer". I try very hard to not be that way anymore. I allow myself to be "real" instead of perfect. Oh, and by the way, perfect does not exist on this earth. Those of us who bang our heads against that rock, in various areas of our lives, are doing so foolishly and needlessly.

I won't drag you through all the pieces of my life that have been infiltrated with perfectionism in the past or even currently. There is just not that much time. I do want you to understand that in most cases I have defeated it. In some cases, I have not. I do work on it daily which helps to keep me peaceful.

Perfection cannot be achieved by anyone in anything we do. It simply cannot be attained. Ones who think that it can be are merely fooling themselves. I think that striving to be perfect is an incredibly effective tool of the enemy. He puts that notion within us. We convince ourselves it is a noble goal. I can tell you that it is NOT. Excellence is a noble and worthwhile goal. Perfection is only of God. We cannot achieve it. We only torture ourselves and those around us when we succumb to its lure.

There are many things I do well. There are just as many things that I do not do well. I tend to have animosity for the second group. Why? I am only human. I have my share of gifts and talents just like all of God's children. I shy away from the things in which I show no natural talent and I anguish over perfecting the things in which I do show talent. On the surface that doesn't seem so bad. However, both can be limiting my growth and my spectrum of life-enjoyment.

I have scoured over my writing in the past like a mad-woman. I would continuously change this and that--adding a little something here and removing a little something there. I have endlessly fussed over avoiding cliche phrases and dangling participles. In fact, in my high school and college writings, I did this to the detriment of the content of my writing. I was never happy with it. It would end up butchered and void of it's initial impact and power. I would write paper after paper. I would change them and modify them. I would throw them away and start all over-endlessly. It was torturous. I did this in search of perfection. How silly. I do not do this anymore. I leave the content ALONE. I leave the key ideas and points of impact as they initially came to me. Back then, I was so adamant about leaving things alone that I became somewhat sloppy with the details, which are still crucial to good and effective writing. The things like proper punctuation, grammar, sentence structure and such, became tedious and bothersome minutia not to be addressed because I didn't want to restart the scouring tendency I once had. It was a fear of dragging that perfectionistic mentality back into my writing. Alas, that was a silly notion as well.

If I am going to be a well-rounded and successful writer I need to learn the art of leaving the content and the powerful message alone while still being able to polish the minor details. I am working on this skill. I know the rules of the English language well. I excelled in them while in school. Unfortunately, I have ignored them for many years and it is taking discipline in order to restore them to my repertoire. I now aim for excellence, not perfection.

In contrast to the things I have been given talent in, there are many things which I do not display talent. I instinctively back away from such things as quickly as I can. This is yet another silly weakness. Why do we limit ourselves so? Why not simply admit to ourselves that we are not great at this or that, but will enjoy it despite not being great at it? For example, I am not at all talented vocally. Singing is something I love. My ears however do not hold the same love for my singing as my heart does. So I shy away from it. I don't want to be ridiculed. I don't want people to hear me and have their ears begin to bleed. OK, it's not that bad, but it is something in which I just don't have much talent. Around others, I used to sing incredibly quietly, if at all. (I have always sang at the top of my lungs in the car. Now, I have a regular passenger but the she doesn't know how off-key I am. She loves it all the same.) My voice may not sound like the angels' to me, but I know that to my God--it does. I should never quiet my voice when it comes to singing His praises. In the past I have. I have sung quietly in church when my heart wanted to sing out loud. What a shame. Perfectionism again, at its worst. Why should I care if anyone sitting next to me doesn't think it's beautiful? It's not for them anyway, it is for MY GOD. I don't do this anymore. I sing out. I give Him my all.

We all need to let go of our insecurities and excel at the things we are talented with and yet not over analyze them and brutalize ourselves trying to perfect them. We should also enjoy the many things in which we show little or no talent; and we should do so for the sake of enjoying life and praising our God. Life is entirely too short to limit ourselves or exhaust ourselves dealing with perfectionism. It is the tool of the enemy. It is born out of insecurity. Don't let it bind you. Rip it from your soul and cast it into the fire from which it came from. Unleash yourself. Be bold enough to be imperfect. Sing out loud. Sing to the heavens, out-of-tune or not! Write from your heart, polish it up, and bless the world with your words. Don't kill it with perfectionism.

Take these words and apply them to your life. Blend them in with your talents and insecurities. Free your soul to soar!

Only God is perfect. Be you. Be real. Bless the world with the gift of YOU.