How to get over being a perfectionist? Please answer?

Question

I don't know what is wrong with me. I really want to keep a journal.. But I don't know how to go about doing it. You see, the thing is.. I never get anything written because I'm too busy trying to write everything down so perfectly. If I misspell a word I try to fix it but I always end up ripping the entire page out because I think scribbling it looks bad. And then sometimes I'm intimidated to even write in it because I don't want to screw up. I have a ton of different notebooks that I gave up on because I didn't like them anymore.

It is so weird because I know nobody is perfect and I don't really expect myself to be perfect (Yet appariently I do???)

Answer 1

I totally understand how you feel!!!

I'm the same way. I've resorted to blogs, and on-line journals, so that way I can run spell-check in them. I've learned to actually point out my mistakes, and laugh about them. If you can laugh at yourself you won't take everything so dead serious, and learn to relax alittle. I still struggle with this, for example this is my 4th time editing this comment to your question.

Whatever its cause, a need to always be perfect can be damaging to your health. Perfectionism is “a chronic source of stress, often leaving the individual feeling that he/she is a failure.”
It is “an all pervasive attitude that whatever you attempt in life must be done letter perfect with no deviation, mistakes, slip ups, or inconsistencies.”

Little wonder, then, that perfectionism has been linked with chronic anger, low self-worth, guilt, pessimism, eating disorders, and depression. Most serious of all, though, perfectionism can harm one spiritually. Admittedly, it may not be easy to handle doing a less-than-perfect job. Critical, negative thoughts may still flood your mind.

So what can you do?

1.) You can set high but realistic goals.

2.) The fact is that dwelling on negative thoughts is destructive, and self-defeating. So make a conscious effort to push from your mind unreasonable thoughts about yourself.

3.) Have a sense of humor regarding your mistakes. After all, there is “a time to laugh.” (Ecclesiastes 3:4) Learn to Laugh and Let it Go.

4.) Remember, too, that Jehovah GOD does not approve of abusive speech—even when we direct it towards ourselves.—Ephesians 4:31. So forgive and forget, don't be hard on yourself.

5.) Instead of constantly berating yourself, apply the words of Proverbs 11:17: “A man of loving-kindness is dealing rewardingly with his own soul, but the cruel person is bringing ostracism upon his own organism.” Last but not Least be Kind to yourself and allow room for mistakes and imperfection. Congratulate yourself when you've done a semi-good job, or half-way accomplished a goal.

Good Luck with this!

Answer 2

I know exactly what you mean. There's really no way of getting over being a perfectionist. It's just something you learn to live with. Try messing things up on purpose, i.e. purposefully make scribbles on the paper and don't rip the page out. If you get intimidated because you think you will screw up, try to relax, and remind yourself it's no big deal. There's nothing wrong with being a perfectionist.

Answer 3

I am glad that you undestand that you want to be a perfectionist but you are bound to make mistakes. I am like that and it cost me my internship! Which broke my heart. The more you want stuff to be right the more it is bound to happen. So I think that you should keep a journal and just go in a quiet room write from you heart and don't re read what you write for maybe a month. do this everyday...and then come back to you thoughts. You will be surprised how much of what and why you really are trying to perfect comes from your page! good luck!

Answer 4

Perhaps you were raised to think that everything had to be perfect or you're a failure. It's much more relaxing to realize that you're not perfect and that's fine.
As far as journaling goes, I began a journal on my computer because I was too lazy to write plus I can say more. You might want to try that. Write from the heart and as one other person suggested don't re-read it. Wait a while. When or if you re-read it later, you'll be surprised at how you felt when you wrote it. Plus if you made a "mistake" the whole world didn't end.
Good luck. Be kind to yourself.

Answer 5

I'm just like that. I expect perfection and only perfection from myself. The best way to keep a journal when you are a perfectionist is to start each entry with I AM NOT PERFECT. This will help you not freak out when you're writing and it doesn't work out. I was this way and i always had to look in the mirror and say that I was imperfect, everyday until I came to terms with it.

Another creative journal idea is to draw and collage in your journal so you feel like you can be as creative as you possibly can. This will allow your perfection to flourish so it can look just like you want it too. I hope this works out.

Answer 6

I could use your help, as well as thousands of people out here!!
Turn this "problem" into a money making adventure! I could use a person like you to help me organize my home.

When you write, write on the key board, problem solved with handwriting. I have RA. My fingers hurt way to much to write with a pen or pencil. I try and get the big over sized ones but the dogs or kids get a hold of them or I loose them. The keyboard is the way I go!!

As in dog training take what one might think of as being a flaw and turn it into positive. You are a perfectionist, gosh you could make a living at being what you are naturally!
This is who you are and "getting" over it if it is disrupting your life may take a therapist, a professional. Of course I do not see this as being a bad thing!!

Keep your head up and the bad thoughts away!

Answer 7

I'll tell you...

I have OCD that is perfection driven and rather compulsive and obsessive (so that's a great name for it)

To learn how to stop doing things that become tedious or uncomfortable for me, (even though the act of repeating them brings a certain twisted kind of comfort.) I learned to do the total opposite and knock myself out of that familiar comfort zone by forcing myself to do... what I should not be doing according to what my addiction dictates as wrong. In other words... I force the imperfection. I force the error, I actually make mistakes on purpose! Then I learn how to deal with myself and them.

I have simple exercises that i do mental and physical. I write with my left hand, cover one eye, bind my fingers, draw, with my toes... I know that it sounds silly. But these things take the mind out of it's comfort zone. They frustrate you, drive you nuts and make you insane but... at the same time, your brain is relearning cause and effect. Re wiring itself to think and do in other ways.

Force yourself to perform simple harmless acts of defiance against your need to be perfect. At first little unnoticeable things, then... with time make a switch to bigger things. Make mistakes and leave them be without correcting them. It will make you nuts. But you will find it fun after a while.

Trust me... It works if you commit to it!

Answer 8

a million. I continuously use a bookmark so i do no longer could fold the pages in a e book. - fake. I continuously stop/start up on the top/beginning up of a financial disaster. I in basic terms undergo in suggestions which financial disaster. 2. Having a pimple or different blemish makes me fairly self-wakeful. - authentic (a minimum of whether that's seen and that i understand approximately it). 3. while sending a card, I continuously write a draft till now I write the message interior the easily card. - authentic. 4. I on occasion placed on wrinkled clothing. - If "on occasion" = "continuously", then authentic. 5. If I walked right into a gathering with bathroom paper caught to the backside of my shoe, i could have subject forgiving myself for something of the day. - fake. i could in basic terms be grateful it replaced into in basic terms bathroom paper on the backside of my shoe. 6. I make my mattress each morning. - I make my mattress each time i alter the sheets. (No, i'm no longer able to show my laundry schedule here, as i do no longer choose for to invoke your scorn.) So fake. 7. My footwear are haphazardly thrown in a pile on my closet floor. - fake. My footwear are haphazardly thrown someplace close to my front door. 8. I actually have a sequence way of preparing each morning. - frequently authentic. a minimum of while i'm working. 9. i'm continuously on time. - frequently authentic. It was once *continuously* authentic.....yet i'm nevertheless enormously punctual. 10. i'm delicate donning socks with slightly distinctive types if my pants are protecting them. - authentic to the capability of 40 two. (i'm happy to discover 2 socks that stay *on*. Matching would not ingredient prominently into the equation.) ("those 2 look black? Black-ish? no longer white, then? ok, nice, on they bypass.")

Answer 9

Instead of writing it down, do it in Word. It's got this thing called "spellcheck". No more ripping out pages.

Answer 10

Its a disorder
seek 1:1 therapy