Progress Not Perfection
Low-FODMAP Clamato Caesar
May 17, 2020
Low-FODMAP Tzatziki
May 27, 2020I've often been an all or nothing girl.
In my mind, I'm either really good at something or 'maybe, it's not my thing'. When it came to school, I was often working into the wee hours of the night on projects because they were just not quite perfect yet. And yes, I was the one with my notes in hand walking into the exam to study that one last thing for the 10th time, just in case.
Recently I have realized how this concept of perfection has held me back from achieving some of the goals that are truly important to me. Because if that post is not perfect yet, I choose to hold off on the post. Or if I forgot to add a day into my food journal and record my daily IBS symptoms, the week was just a right off.
But don't you see how detrimental this is to eventually reaching those goals?
Here are a few things I have learned that have allowed me to start letting go of perfection and strive for progress instead.
First of all perfection doesn't exist.
Yes, I said it.
We have these picture of “perfection” in our head of :
- the expert in our field; the one who fixes all and is all-knowing for their clients.
- The wellness guru that does her mindfulness everyday without fault, sticks to her plant-based diet to a T, and just ran another half marathon, in record time!
- The Instagram influencer that seemed to grow her abs back overnight after having her second child, has 3 product lines, and travels the world... well because she can.
Social media can make these images seem so real! And this is not to take away from the brilliant experts, the wellness badasses, and inspiring influencers that worked their asses off to get to where they are now. But that's just it. They worked their asses off!
They hustled.
They failed, no, they learned.
They asked for help and they still have it.
They struggled and they still experience hardships.
And wanna know what else? They also still feel like they are not perfect. Achieving all those goals doesn't feel the same on the other side. Self-doubt can still exist.
Hello, have you read Rachel Hollis's latest book? She speaks to the fact that she had written a New York Times best-selling book, and was afraid her next one would fall on its face.
It is all relative, my friends.
Perfection is a figment of our imagination. If we keep striving towards this ideal of perfection we will never find it, and honestly, we can miss a lot of opportunities to push forward if we keep waiting for the perfect moment to do something.
There is going to be good with the bad always, it is not an all or none situation.
Which leads me to my next point....
It is Not an All or Nothing World
So now that we know that perfection doesn't exist, we also have to acknowledge that our expectation of winning on the first shot, also doesn't help us.
If we always expected to achieve our goal the first time we tried, we all would still be crawling! How many times do you think you fell before you started walking as a kid? Well, all I have to say is it was not just one time.If we give up at our first barrier we teach our brains that it is okay to give up. To reach our goals we have to make habits, but we also have to break them. We have to break the habit of giving up at the first sight of a setback.
Life is busy, man.
- Whether you are that young professional trying to balance a new career, continuing education, fitting in time for the gym, and trying to hang on to a social life.
- OR you are a new mom just back at work, learning to take care of a little human, making time for your partner, and somehow trying to find some me-time.
- OR the university student that is juggling studying, working out, going out, and trying to fit in some time to sleep.
We are not going to get it “ right” the first time. It’s just physics. But I can tell you that persistence and consistency helps.
Start with small goals, floss your teeth every day for a week. Drink 6 cups of water a day or keep your food and symptom journal for a week. Teach yourself that you can achieve your goals. Break those habits of giving up early, and then work towards a bigger goal.
Rome was not built in a day, ladies.
Celebrate the Progress
And lastly, and very much most importantly, we gotta start celebrating the progress!
- Last weekend, instead of eating dessert AND chips, I just had dessert. Instead of grabbing that 4th drink, I had water instead. Instead of staying up past midnight, I chose to go to bed before 11 pm so my week wasn’t ruined for trying to get my sleep back on track.
- This week I made a financial decision that was hard but necessary to work on sticking to my new budget.
- About mid-week I finally had 3 days in a row that I took my Mg every night to help with my digestion issues.
- Yesterday I signed up for a webinar about anti-racism and allyship for rehab and movement professionals, to educate myself and build self-awareness about where I can improve in my allyship for BIPOC.
We do not need to be popping champagne every time we see some progress, but we do need to acknowledge it. Show that brain of yours that you are making moves forward and how good it feels to be one step closer to your goals. Whatever they are.
So as I was saying,
