E2 Perfectionism - Alessandra White

Welcome to Maybe It's Just Me. I'm Alexandra White and I'm the founder of Creative Work. Our it's a handcrafted creative studio that I've hosted in excess of 1000 times since 2021. I believe that good mental hygiene is easier to keep in check. Just by learning a few basics about what I call creative health. So I'm here in this podcast to share with you a few essentials to help demystify what it means to live a creative life, but to live one that is dynamic rather than dramatic. Today we will be addressing perfectionism.

Last fall, I tried my hand at podcasting. Oh. It was torture. It was it brought up a level of perfectionism. Good grief. My heart still hurts from that, but I learned a lot. I find that really all we need to do is not be perfect, not wipe out mistakes. But in fact. Simply. Be willing to be happy. With moving the needle a little. Another creative friend, Wai Ling Fong made me aware of, "1% Better."

So this is a perfect example. The episode that I did yesterday was on Vulnerability Hangover. I recorded it. I needed to let it go. But I felt this tight regret in my gut. And what was that about? Oh, well, that was about. I realized that I had not opened the episode. I just started talking. So I felt like I needed to go and get it back, go pull the episode down, pull it down and make it over again and make it better and give it the intro and..."No! Don't do it," a wiser part of me said. So today all that is share with you about is that I was tempted to just stall and not try again. But here we are. And this is me admitting (to) the crappy trait of perfectionism that all of us have. And that I can actually be okay with myself sitting here next to me – all caught up in it.

So here's the trick. When you know perfectionism is happening, don't push it away. Bring it in close. Pour it a cup of tea. Say, "you and me, we're in this together. And I know that there's something that you're exceedingly good at that I'm going to need in if you're okay, just to relax a little bit. Even a little while I work. When you need to tell me something, I'll be able to hear you."

And together, that's how you get creative things started, or resumed, maybe even finished and shared with the world.

Welcome the perfectionism! Don't push him or her away. Bring them on the ride. Come on! It'll be fun!