It seems for me that 2012 is the year of learning: to shelve perfectionism; to ask myself better questions and stop my negative self talk; to stop waiting (until things are perfect I suspect); and to stop hiding behind my story that ‘I am trying’… oh the places you’ll go when you start doing things!
Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t suddenly changed the fabric of my being over the last couple of months as I have been challenged from all sides… I continually need the reminders and fresh perspectives on the challenges being handed to me in order to keep at it day after day! I’ve been told it takes three to four weeks to change a habit, consequently I undertook the ’21 Day challenge’ set down by Lindsey Baigent to the Nature Direct team… round one I got to day one… round two I got to day 15 when doing the challenge with two friends… here’s to going all the way in round three! I’m not a different person, but I am taking steps – not trying, but doing – because it is through what I DO that I will become a better version of me!
Of course, as with all changes, it requires us to mourn what we are losing even if its something about ourselves we don’t particularly like. In my case it’s perfectionism… I’ve felt the need to be the first, the best, the most perfect for such a long time! When I start to change something, I try to understand why it is the way it is. There is no conclusive winner in the nature vs. nurture debate, thus it’s near impossible for me to tell what aspects of my personality are hardwired and what aspects are learnt… or whether everything about me has a little from column A and a little from column B!
Wherever my perfectionist tendencies did or did not come from, surely there is a way I can begin to teach myself to let them go! I’ve been finding planning activities for Cheeky Monkey a great way to reconnect with my inner child and it’s giving me great ideas to teach both Cheeky Monkey and myself that it’s OK to be exactly who you are – in that, some things in life you will find easy and other things you will find hard. Everyone is different (not better or worse – just different)! In my blog reading I came across Playful Learning’s Is it Easy? Is it Hard? post and I just had to share with you the great story upon which it was based!
I’ll definitely be reading/ watching this story with Cheeky Monkey when he’s a bit older and doing some craft around the concept – multiple times as required to cement the concept for both him and I!
What do you find easy? What do you find hard? Are you at peace with the fact that your strengths and weaknesses do not make you any better or worse than the next person – just different?!
