Impurrfekt !!!

A friend once gifted me a handcrafted diary hoping that I’ll pen down my thoughts the moment I received it. All I did was ‘wait’ for couple of years to actually use it. I always had these self excuses; I’ll start writing after the office workload is settled, after I have re-arranged my wardrobe, after the weekend and so on. Always waiting for a perfect thought, moment and even a perfect pen to write with. What I didn’t realize was while waiting for all these perfects I was postponing the feeling of contentment that writing gives me.

The world is full of imperfections yet most of us look for perfections in life. We look for the perfect moment, partner, house, car, job – all these perfections in other person or thing or situation!! In this process we tend to forget that we ourselves are not perfect.

Until recently I was that person seeking perfection in everything that I do. Though I know I was not perfect in all of them, but I always tried to be one and, in that process, I often lost most of my energy. Then I came across a book “How to be an Imperfectionist” by Stephen Guise. I’m not a fan of self-help kind of books but its title caught my attention. Probably because it is the exactly opposite of what we are always being told to do – “To Be Perfect”. The author fairly describes the psychology behind perfectionism, why and how we can ‘let go’. I’m not here to write a review for this book. However, there are few habits that I picked up after reading this book and how these are currently helping me in my life. Sharing these with you..

(P.S. It took me months to ‘actually start implementing these’ after reading the book. As they say good habits are difficult to adopt. And I’m still at beginners level…)

Embrace Imperfection: Tell yourself it is ok to be ‘imperfect’.That doesn’t mean stop trying to get better but at times being imperfect is the way forward: “you’ve to start somewhere”. I had planned to have my blog since long. However, I was waiting for a perfect name for it, to get the first post of the blog damn perfect and impressive. And honestly if I had kept dwelling on those thoughts, I would have never come up with my blog. But here I am with Soulसंवाद. Being imperfect does have its problems but so does being perfect. Isn’t it better to move forward with imperfections rather than not moving at all until everything is perfect?

Don’t Procrastinate:  Don’t give excuses to others and most importantly to yourself! If there is something that you really want start with, do it NOW. It could be anything like learning a new instrument, painting, photography, starting a YouTube channel or simply watching a new web series or calling a friend or spending time with your loved ones (consider this in post lock-down scenario 😉) that will make you happy. Simply do it. Procrastinating things you like to do will postpone your happiness. Folks life is too short to postpone your pure happiness striving for perfection!!

Let go of Embarrassment:  Finally, when I decided to start the blog and share it with everyone; all I did was I wrote and share and improvements, if any, would follow. I didn’t let the thoughts bother me; thoughts like-  is my topic perfect, writing perfect, whether the grammar is “Wren & Martin” perfect (the book that was referred in 90’s school days and earlier not sure of current times though), whether the blog layout-appearance is as per the current trend and so on. I started with what I felt right, started with my honest experiences and thoughts, shared with the wider audience. Thereby exposing myself to appreciation, constructive feedback and to some extent prepared myself to get ridiculed. I could do all this just because I could “let go of embarrassment” of being imperfect.

Most important one: learn to accept ,if possible enjoy, the imperfections around you…

So is there anything that you’ve kept on hold waiting for the perfect start? Start it anyway, be imperfectly perfect in your own way. Some may find it cool; some may just mock it but as long as you’re doing what it matters to you with an intent of getting better with every try everything is Perfect!!

Do share your thoughts…