How Perfection Slowly Destroys Your Life and Those around You

With Christmas just around the corner I’ve noticed that we can ruin the holidays by focusing on all the wrong things.  One of the biggest distractions is Perfectionism.  People get so caught up in the petty details of life that they don’t even realize how perfection is slowly destroying their life and those around them.   Let’s look at a few things I’ve noticed in how perfection can cause more harm than good.

#1 It Ruins Relationships

By placing unrealistic expectations on people, it will cause them to be on edge around you because they know you won’t be happy with anything they do.  You’ll see the picture perfect job in your head and because no one else can see it, they won’t do it how you would like it done.  This normally leads to people having to walk on egg shells when you are around because they know you will be pointing out something that needs to be differently.  They will feel like they can’t do anything right for you.  The stress and anxiety that perfection causes you will make it difficult to deal with others, causing you to think it is their fault that things aren’t done right when in reality you have impossible standards.

#2 It Causes Stress and Anxiety

Stress normally comes from discontentment, which feeds off of ungratefulness.  You try to take on the world by yourself, carrying heavy burdens that Jesus did not mean for you to bear.  By thinking everything has to be perfect causes you to either not approach a task at all or become anxious with all of the impossible details that come up in your mind.  Time management will become seemingly impossible as tasks build up on top of each other because you are so busy trying to perfect one job  that really doesn’t need that much effort – like folding laundry perfectly every time, with no creases.  And because you will be so focused on your seemingly growing list, you won’t be able to sleep at night since you’ll be running off of cortisol, which causes your body to want to fight or flight, not sleep.

#3 It Causes Discontentment

By having a perfectionists mind, nothing will ever be good enough.  Your eyes will constantly be wondering from object to object as you make a list of how it should be different.   You’ll always want more and better, and peace will be ever absent from your mind.  Feeling never satisfied with how things are done, you’ll stay discontent, draining all joy from your life.

#4 It Takes the Enjoyment out of Life

Discontentment makes you ungrateful.  When your life lacks gratitude it slowly starts to eat away at your joy because nothing is ever done and your eyes will begin to gravitate toward everything you don’t have.  You won’t be able to enjoy life because there will be nothing to enjoy – everything you want is not in your procession.  You’ll become greedy in always needing the latest gadget, fad, or style, never giving anything away, hoarding it all for yourself because one day you might need it. 

#5 It Doesn’t Exist

As we all well know, whether conscientiously or not, perfection does not exist.  Nothing will ever be perfect on this earth as long as sin is a part of it.  Jesus is the only man to live on earth who was perfect.  But the earth and everyone on it was still not perfect even though He was here.  Perfectionism is impossible and when you strive for something that does not exist it leaves you feeling hopeless and empty.

On the other hand diligence and excellence is the best route to take because these are possible.  Do everything to the best of your abilities but don’t get caught up in petty details that do not matter.  Make thanking God a daily practice and you’ll see perfectionism isn’t so fun anymore.

Next time, I would like to talk about perfectionism as an athlete and how it can destroy your training, so stay tuned for that.

Love ya’ll and hope you have a great Christmas!

Until Next Time, Happy Running!

This is a single post in our series on Perfectionism. To read the others click on the links below. We will add the titles as they are created.

Post One: How Perfection Slowly Destroys Your Life and Those around You

Post Two: Was 2021 the Perfect Year?

Post Three: How to Run for Excellence rather Than Perfection

Post Four: My Story of Transformation was Anything But Perfect

Post Five: Should I Stick to My Daily Schedule or Run Each Day by the Seat of My Pants? …Coming Jan. 17th…