My perfectionism is so insidious and so pervasive that it can and will spoil anything.
“Turmeric is good for preventing cancer.” someone tells me.
My Perfectionist Voice says, “Now you feel bullied. The only way to be free is to not drink turmeric or not fully embrace drinking turmeric. I you do drink turmeric, you will think about all the other things you could be doing to be healthy that you aren’t doing. You are an unhealthy aging loser.”
Sigh.
Every tip for better health — reducing sugar, building up core muscle strength, raw foods, — all gets eaten by my Perfectionism and then spit out on my self-esteem.
But I am tricky and I don’t give up. I have found two new ways to get my Perfectionism to instantly evaporate.
There is nothing wrong with me.
I’ve started saying to myself, “There is nothing wrong with me.” For some reason, this gets in better than “I love myself completely and unconditionally.”
When I say there is nothing wrong with me, my whole body tingles with relief. Try it. Let me know what happens for you.
There is nothing wrong with me! There’s nothing wrong with me! I think even if I had an addiction other than perfectionism, saying to myself and believing that there is nothing wrong with me, would help me set myself free from shame and help me find a solution to any problem confronting me.
I want to lose weight, but there is nothing wrong with me.
I want to increase by core strength, burn fat, and reduce the size of my belly, but there is nothing wrong with me.
I want to feel more energetic and reverse the aging process, but there is nothing wrong with me.
It is working of already.
I like my face.
The other sentence I stumbled on in my imperfect recovery from Perfectionism is “I like my face.” When I say this I smile. Try it. Does it make you smile or giggle? Do you feel the freedom that comes with embracing silliness? Does saying you like your face feel like a Big Lie? If so, see the paragraphs above on “there’s nothing wrong with me.”
The next ten people I meet, I’m going to stick out my hand to shake hands and say, “Hi! I’m Vicki.” To myself I will say, “and I like my face.”
So there is nothing wrong with me and there is nothing wrong with you and I like my face and I like yours too!
Like this approach? It is a good thing I’m a coach. There is a lot more where this came from…
Vicki,
try to rephrase it: “it’s everything allright with me”. I have tried it myself in Polish and it works!:)
Everything is ok with me. Indeed, everything is ok with you and your face. A lot of beauty, in fact, is in your face. Keep smiling. Love and peace to all the beautiful people on the planet Earth.
Loves,
grazyna
Thanks for your comment and I get what you are talking about by rephrasing “There is nothing wrong with me” more positively.
For some reason, though, for right now “There is nothing wrong with me” shakes the rust off. It get inside, perhaps even because I’m saying it a little bit “wrong.” Does that make any sense to you?
If you could send me your version recorded in Polish that would be soooooo cool!
Vicki
I like this and yes, it does make me feel relieved. I also like, “I’m just fine, exactly as I am right now.”
We are way too hard on ourselves most of the time.