Find freedom by embracing the beautiful mess.
A perfect life is a happy life.
I used to believe this.
That when I was perfect and had everything in order, THEN I would be successful and I could finally be happy.
Because to be imperfect meant I was a failure – that my best wasn’t good enough.
It meant that I wasn’t good enough.
And, there is so much shame in that.
Feeling like you’re never enough is a painful and lonely place to be.
So, in order to run away from the fear of failing, the fear of shame, I just kept striving to be little miss perfect.
It was a paralyzing way to live and I was miserable.
My quest for perfection led to unmanageable stress and burnout in a job I really loved.
It affected my ability to be the leader I was meant to be.
It took me a few years of healing and self-discovery to realize that I was creating my own miserable reality by the unrealistic and unhealthy expectations I placed on myself.
I’m not going to lie, shifting my perspective – or mindset – from limiting to empowering was a tough nut to crack.
But, remaining the same was no longer an option.
Through radical self-compassion and transformational coaching strategies, I embraced a new life view that was so much more empowering and freeing:
Being human is complex and often messy, and my true worth and value is not dependent on being perfect.
When we choose to embrace the messiness of life, we feel truly connected.
We can let our guard down and let people see the real, imperfect, flawed, beautiful, and magical person that we are.
It is in being our true selves that we find true happiness.
We realize that we can be imperfect and still loved.
One of my favorite authors on the topic of messy (or imperfection) is Brene Brown.
In her groundbreaking book, The Gifts of Imperfection, she writes,
“When we become more loving and compassionate with ourselves, we can embrace our imperfections. It is in the process of embracing our imperfections that we find our truest gifts: courage, compassion, and connection.”
I’ll go a step further and say that when we accept our own imperfections we can also accept them in others.
And, isn’t that what the world really needs right now?
So, join me in embracing the beautiful mess of your perfectly imperfect life and see if in the process, you find the truth of who you are and the freedom to live life on your terms.
