The Power & Perils of Perfectionism

....the desire to excel, striving towards excellence or being the absolute best you can be is a strong driver of accomplishment. If you are one of those people who feels compelled to stick to something until it’s just right, you can gain traction and satisfaction from perfectionism. At times, though, our very strengths can become our greatest obstacles. For example:

• If you never feel satisfied with anything; 
• If your perfectionism is alienating you from connecting with others; 
• If perfectionism is stopping you from completing a project, resulting in being stuck;
• If perfectionism is causing you to engage in unhealthy behaviors like over-exercising, restricted eating, not sleeping, or comparing yourself all the time;
• If in your perfectionism, you're unwilling to make mistakes or "fail" --

It's time to examine what your drive to be ‘perfect’ is actually accomplishing.

• Avoidance of, or escaping from uncomfortable feelings or situations?
• Anxiety that’s driving you in an attempt to protect you from criticism, or other dangers you suffered in childhood?
• Overcompensating for areas in your life that you feel are not as fulfilling or not ideal?
• A control-driven expression of obsessive compulsive behavior? 
• A way to self-soothe, pacify, or otherwise manage overwhelming feelings?

• Understand that from an alchemical/spiritual perspective, "Perfection" means completion - making something whole, rather than being flawless.
• Understand and learn to recognize the different types of perfectionism: self-motivated vs socially driven perfectionism.
• Examine the costs of maladaptive perfectionistic drives and behaviors.
• Explore the feelings that drive it as well as those we are trying to escape.
• Manage the over-thinking that often accompanies socially driven, maladaptive perfectionism through cognitive inquiry and mindfulness.
• Engage in somatic awareness practices (focused attention to sensations and surroundings) to down-regulate the nervous system’s hyper-activation.