Mental Fitness: Beating Perfectionism

😂 BEATING PERFECTIONISM: Why are we SO mean to ourselves?!

This might be one of the most fun Mental Fitness episodes Ellen Morrison Kelley and I have done.

We laughed. A LOT. 😂 But we also talked about something that gets into so many of our heads:

The pressure to be perfect.

Perfect parent.

Perfect wife.

Perfect employee.

Perfect body.

Perfect house.

Perfect response.

Perfect life.

And heaven forbid you make a mistake — especially where other people can see it. 😬

But here’s the problem:

Human beings are messy. Life is complicated. Most things are gray, not black and white — and NONE of us are perfect.

So why do we expect ourselves to be?

In this episode, we talk about the toxic messages we absorb from our culture and how easily they become the voice inside our own heads.

I share what I’ve learned from being heavily judged online — and how I’ve had to learn to let some of it go.

Ellen shares a story about a man who said something absolutely SHOCKING to her while she was walking in a parade. 😳

And we talk about the expectations placed on women — especially the generations of women who came before us — and how much of that baggage we’re still carrying around without even realizing it.

Thankfully, Ellen is a retired therapist, because at several points we basically had to ask:

WHY DO WE DO THIS TO OURSELVES?! 😂

One idea kept coming back:

❤️ What if we talked to ourselves the way we would talk to our best friend?

We would never expect our best friend to be perfect. We wouldn’t tear her apart over every mistake. We’d remind her she’s human, tell her to learn from it, laugh when appropriate, and KEEP GOING.

Maybe we deserve that same kindness.

This episode is funny, honest, messy and VERY relatable — and I think a lot of people are going to see themselves in this conversation.

🎥 Watch “Beating Perfectionism” and then tell us:

What pressure did you spend years putting on yourself that you finally realized you could LET GO?

And what do you do when that little voice in your head starts demanding perfection again?

👇 We really want to hear your answers.