I am a perfectionist.
I state that neither as a good thing, nor a bad thing. I state it simply as a fact of life when you are me. At times, being a perfectionist turns me into my own best friend. I do so many things, and do them right. But there are times when it turns me into my own worst enemy.
Times like yesterday.
I woke up determined to have a perfect dieter's day. I knew I was doomed when I was starving an hour after breakfast. "This shouldn't be happening," I thought to myself. "I'm being good today.
So I did what any good dieter would do. I pulled out some herb tea, and drank it while typing up a blog post. It did work, for about an hour. By noon I was famished again. I couldn't stop thinking about food.
I somehow held out until lunch, but that's when the floodgates opened. I couldn't stop eating.
Here's where the perfectionist thing became a killer. Once I had been "imperfect" I gave up on being good. I know it's stupid, but I'm an all or nothing kind of gal.
And yesterday it was nothing.
Today I am determined to have a good day. I thought about yesterday, about where I went wrong, and I am prepared to rectify yesterday's mistakes. Hopefully today will be a better day than yesterday. That's really all there is to hope for.
Or is it?
I don't think so.
Here's what I hope for. I hope that one day I will overcome my nature enough to say "well, I ate something I should not have this morning, but for the rest of the day I won't go crazy."
I can't be the only one who has this problem. Do you have it do? How do you overcome it?
I state that neither as a good thing, nor a bad thing. I state it simply as a fact of life when you are me. At times, being a perfectionist turns me into my own best friend. I do so many things, and do them right. But there are times when it turns me into my own worst enemy.
Times like yesterday.
I woke up determined to have a perfect dieter's day. I knew I was doomed when I was starving an hour after breakfast. "This shouldn't be happening," I thought to myself. "I'm being good today.
So I did what any good dieter would do. I pulled out some herb tea, and drank it while typing up a blog post. It did work, for about an hour. By noon I was famished again. I couldn't stop thinking about food.
I somehow held out until lunch, but that's when the floodgates opened. I couldn't stop eating.
Here's where the perfectionist thing became a killer. Once I had been "imperfect" I gave up on being good. I know it's stupid, but I'm an all or nothing kind of gal.
And yesterday it was nothing.
Today I am determined to have a good day. I thought about yesterday, about where I went wrong, and I am prepared to rectify yesterday's mistakes. Hopefully today will be a better day than yesterday. That's really all there is to hope for.
Or is it?
I don't think so.
Here's what I hope for. I hope that one day I will overcome my nature enough to say "well, I ate something I should not have this morning, but for the rest of the day I won't go crazy."
I can't be the only one who has this problem. Do you have it do? How do you overcome it?
1 comment:
If you learn how to get rid of the "all or nothing" mentality, call me. I need help with it too.
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