Perfectionism is Negotiating with Terrorists

You’d think perfectionism would be the pursuit of making something the best possible version of itself.

That’s its motto, anyway.

“Perfectly executed things” often ring like concrete bells, though.

Sanding off every corner won’t protect us from the splinters of our insecurities.

Perfectionism, ultimately, is the attempt to render ourselves immune to abandonment. So good, our worthiness can’t possibly be in question. We must be accepted. We’ve proven ourselves without flaw or error.

Unfortunately, the id we’re negotiating with notoriously acts in bad faith. It’s the sham orchestra sewn and glued specifically to play us off the stage. If we don’t have a real-world antagonist, our splintered insecurities will gladly manufacture one.

Variety and vulnerability is true perfection.

Comparison has no sting for a thing aspiring to authenticity over perfection.

A thing living in its authenticity requires no external validation.

It is, in and of itself, validation.

“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.”

- from “Anthem” by Leonard Cohen