Learn to live with imperfection
Well-being 🌿 | Letting go 🍃 | #Imperfection #Acceptance #Resilience
TL;DR
Embrace your imperfections as part of being human, and seek support in your journey to live with imperfection.
Recognise the choice between accepting or changing imperfections.
Find the right balance between self-acceptance and personal growth.
Seed
Embracing Imperfection: A Path to Inner Peace
In life, we often find ourselves facing challenges and imperfections that can be overwhelming. While it's essential to seek professional guidance for serious issues, there's also value in learning to live with imperfections that are a part of being human.
We all have our flaws and quirks, and that's perfectly okay. Our personalities are shaped by a combination of genetics and life experiences, resulting in unique imperfections. Rather than constantly fighting these aspects of ourselves, we can choose to embrace them. It's a way of acknowledging that these imperfections are a part of who we are, and they may never completely disappear. However, we have the power to create an environment in which we can manage and control how these imperfections affect us.
Speaking of environment, imperfections can extend beyond ourselves and include contextual elements. In such cases, we are often presented with a choice: accept or change. The decision may vary depending on the specific imperfection or challenge.
The path to living with imperfection is not one-size-fits-all. There are numerous ways to approach it, and the solution can differ from one situation to another. The goal here is to initiate a conversation and reflection on the imperfections or challenges you might be currently facing:
1. Identify Your Challenges: Start by recognising the issues you're currently battling. It might be a personality trait, a behaviour pattern, or external circumstances.
2. Consider Letting Go: For some challenges, consider whether it's worth letting go or accepting them as a part of who you are. Assess the cost and benefits of releasing the need for constant change or improvement.
3. Seek Support: Engage in conversations with friends, family, or professionals who can provide insights and support in your journey of learning to live with imperfection.
The journey to embracing imperfection is a personal one, and it's about finding a balance between self-acceptance and personal growth. It's an essential reminder that we are all imperfect, and that imperfection is what makes us beautifully human.
Example
We're all wired differently, and it seems that I'm among those who are affected by depression maybe slightly more than the average. There was a time when I thought it was something I'd never be able to eliminate. Later, I came to accept that it's actually something I should learn to live with. Interestingly, through this acceptance and the process of learning to live with it, I eventually discovered how to reduce both the frequency and intensity of these phases.
So in the end, learning to live with this imperfection, accepting it, made it less prominent.
Bonus
There’s this book that highly inspired this post and more generally this blog, “The pursuit of perfect”, by Tal Ben-Shahar. I highly recommend it if you tend to chase perfection to a point that it’s often exhausting. I really like one of the key concepts which is to learn to become an optimalist, instead of a perfectionist.
Here’s an imperfect summary if you want to get better idea: