How To Transform Your Perfectionism And Anxiety Into A Happier Life

” Progress over perfection!” ” You don’t need to be perfect!” ” Perfection is unrealistic.”

I’m sure you’ve heard many of these phrases before or seen them on a cool graphic while scrolling Instagram. It seems as though the age of striving for perfection is dead. Especially since society is becoming more enlightened about mental health; and how wanting to be perfect can result in: procrastination, anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, and have other negative effects on our well-being. Which is all true. However, there’s more to the story when it comes to perfectionism. In fact, the right kind of perfectionism–in healthy doses — can help you live a happier life and become a better version of yourself.

What is Perfectionism?

Perfectionism is defined as;

“…a multidimensional personality trait characterised by striving for flawlessness, setting extremely high standards of performance, tendencies to be overly critical of one’s own behaviour and concern about negative evaluation by others ” (Birch, Hope, Mcgann, Deborah and Riby, Leigh 2019)

In case that was a bit much, let me paint a picture for you. Imagine you’re on an obstacle course called, ” Life”. Some of the obstacles are dangerous while others are less…