How to embrace your perfectly imperfect life? How do you release limiting narratives and perfectionist ideals that are holding you back from experiencing JOY in every step of your life?
First, what does “beautifully imperfect” living even mean? It means acceptance that “flaws” are an undeniable expression of what it means to be human. It is shifting our mindset from seeing “imperfections” not as a weakness but as a unique gift that has immense power to inspire, create, and transform into the human experience we are all having.
One of the biggest barriers to embracing the joy that is in the up’s and the down’s of the human experience is what is known “perfectionist monster”. As a Life Coach, Mental Health Professional, and Cognitive Behavioral, I learned that “perectionism” is born from fear, grief, and often a defence safety mechanism from unresolved childhood trauma rooted
Therefore our reaction to “overdue” & overcompensate is our way of trying to keep the bot tom from falling out from underneath us.This constant overdoing can lead to emotional, mental, & physical burnout. I see it all the times in my practice. We put so much pressure on ourselves to “do all the things” & then are hard on ourselves when we perceive we have “failed”.
Our relationship with food overtime with unresolved perfectionist tendencies can often be broken. We create these “perfect” ideals around food that we hold ourselves too. These are often influenced by what we learned about food growing up & from diet culture messaging
To begin to repair your relationship with food, body, & self we need to start with releasing narratives that don’t serve us, creating safely within ourselves & shifting our mindset towards accepting your perfectly imperfect life
This takes conscious energy, time, and self awareness to notice our thoughts without judgement & work at rewriting new supportive cognitive thoughts.
Here are 5 ways of being and doing to support you to embrace your perfectly imperfect lives:
- Recognize you are enough: Yup, that’s a bold and direct statement but you need to start doing the work here. You do not need to be anyone other than who you are! The more authentically you are the more powerful you are. Imperfectly perfect with everything you need to create positive change within you right now. With that belief comes great power and freedom. How can you show up in your life the way you want to, if you don’t believe you are deserving of the life you want just as you are?
2. Stop waiting for the ‘perfect’ time to get started: Take action now and release the thought of waiting for some imagery timing that holds you back from taking that bold step forward into your own power. Understand there will never be a perfect time, a time where you have more hours in a day, or even waiting till things “slow down” to go after your dreams. If you put the life you want to live on hold and wait until everything is “perfect” means you will potentially never do what you want to do. So, take action now.
3. Honoring your Inner Knowing: Release choosing to worry about the ‘good opinion’ of others and instead trust your own intuition. Ask yourself “what is important for me to do or be in my life right now and what does my intuition want me to know or do?”. When we lean into that gut feeling and begin to trust our internal compass again it becomes easier to live a more authentic life. Which is in essense perfect in its imperfection.
4. One of the key coaching pillars of Rejoice is, JOYFUL LIVING! Choosing to bring laughter joy & fun into your life. Let go of the need to control everything in your life. The only thing you can control is you & your responses to what life throws at you. Therefore, a simple practice is when a problem or anxiety arises, ask yourself, “do I have control over the outcome?”, if yes. Then write down tangible actions you can take towards your desired outcome. If the answer is no, then ask yourself what you need to release and let go of something you do not have control over.
5. LOOK FOR GIFTS: This one takes work & sometimes is easier said than done! As someone who has experienced trauma, grief, & extreme loss I get how this can feel impossible in dark moments. But when you can Look for the gifts underneath the challenges. There are two sides to every experience: positive and not so positive. With any challenge you have right now – write down & journal two sides to your experience with the aim of neutralizing the not-so-great things with the wonderful things you haven’t chosen to notice until now.
