Perfection and Not Feeling Good Enough

​Anxiety has been surfacing more for me lately and so I decided to have a talk with it. Turns out it’s telling me I’m not doing it “right,” and that there’s not enough time. 
 
Hmmmm... perfection and lack- hello old friends; I know them well. They crop up every so often. 
 
However, perfection doesn’t play out for me in typical ways. I’m pretty messy emotionally; I’m fine with anger, rage, sadness- the full spectrum. I can be real with what I feel. My home can be cluttered in areas; I don’t need it to be perfect. I have no problem showing up places without makeup and being comfortable - YET, if there’s an event where I know I’ll be photographed, my hair has to be just so. I judge myself mercilessly. Same with when I was acting and auditioning: there was a fine line as to when I felt acceptable and when I felt ugly. Yes- strong word because it’s true.
 
It also plays out in subtle ways of not doing enough or as if I need to acquire more and more information to do it “perfectly”- whatever that “it” may be. And because it can be subtle for me, I don’t always catch that that’s what’s going on. 
 
I’ve recently started challenging these core beliefs, not that I haven’t worked on them thoroughly before, yet clearly there’s something going on during this time of intense astrological energies and Covid lockdown, as my friends and many of you, are finding deep, deep issues coming back up to finally be cleared out back to their core.
 
The thing about perfection is that it's such a static energy, it stalls you and completely blocks your creativity. If you’re trying to do it “perfectly,” you may never create at all. You certainly won’t take risks for fear of what will happen if you fall short. You may always feel small and not voice the truth of who you are. It is a huge hindrance to freedom. 
 
For some of you, perfection plays out in being afraid of what others will think. The perfection becomes a terror of embarrassment or humiliation, therefore you need to look and act perfectly to be acceptable. You may even impose those high standards on your loved ones, expecting them to act and behave perfectly as well (this is called control). 
 
Perfection is exhausting, it definitely drains you because you can’t be real. You may not feel safe if you appear less than perfect. 
 
As for not enough, this is a sure-fire way to know your negative ego is involved as it loves to whisper that lie to you. If you always feel that you’re not enough or that there's not enough, again you’ll hide, you won’t pursue your dreams, you’ll defer to others, and if the lack is extra strong in regard to objects, you’ll become stingy because that lack mentality will make you want to hold on to everything (hording toilet paper anyone?). 
 
For me, not enough time is how my negative ego likes to stress me out. So then I get anxious and don’t use the time I do have wisely. Vicious cycle, right? When I can catch it, it’s a totally different story. I use time wisely and definitely have extra of it. 
 
How many of you have held yourselves back thinking you’re not enough to pursue this or attain that? I can pretty much guarantee that even hugely successful people have felt that way. The key is, they didn’t let it stop them. They moved forward despite that feeling.

Ask yourself how perfect you need to be, to be enough.* 

These issues don’t play out constantly, they can be insidious and come up when you least expect them. Which is why awareness is key. The awareness to say, “Not this time!” 
 
Sometimes easy, sometimes not.
 
This is when you need more tools for your spiritual tool belt.
As soon as you realize it, you can change it. Some things that help are:

• Meditation and Grounding yourself: It’ll get you present and out of the spin.

• EFT or Tapping: There’s a great, “You are Enough” tapping in The Tapping Solution’s free app. Or you can YouTube options for being enough and for perfection.

• Actively re-write the script that you’ve believed. Tell a new story about yourself; that you can be less than perfect and still be good enough! 

• Maybe you need to talk to your inner child or inner adolescent. Remind them you’re the adult and are creating a new way of being. Also listen to what they have to say and let them vent. 

• Journal everything that comes up so you can release it.

• Process it out with a friend/therapist.

• Breathe and be in present time with your feelings/emotions. You cannot solve a problem when you are in resistance to it. Talk to your emotions/feelings, see what else is under there, and then climb the emotional ladder.

• Confront your negative ego. (see previous blog)

• Affirm daily: “I Am Enough! I am smart enough, talented enough and good enough to have what I desire.” And: “I can be less than perfect. It’s safe for me to make mistakes. I can be real.”

  
 
Bottom line- take your power back from these faulty ideas of perfection and not being good enough. You in PRESENT time have the power. Not the past, not the future. You. Here. Now. 
 
Which reminds me of a great and simple technique my dear friend Holly Higgins uses whenever she can tell she’s out of present time and stuck in an issue:
​
 You ask yourself, “Where am I?”
 And you answer, “Here.”
 Then you ask yourself, “What time is it?”
 And you answer, “Now.”
 
Seemingly simple but boy does it work.
 
I know I’m not the only one who’s had perfection and enoughness surface lately, so instead of fighting them and trying to ignore them, talk to them, give them voice, and then turn them over to your Higher Self to be healed and released. And if all else fails, then simply be with what is; that you’re feeling massive perfection and not good enough. 
 
It’s time to show up powerfully and with your voice and your uniqueness. And if I didn’t write perfectly enough about perfection, that’s OK, I’m human ;)
 
 
 
 
 * Nick Ortner posed this question in a guided tapping meditation.