Are You a Practising or Recovering Perfectionist?
Are you often weighed down by the threat of not being good enough?
Does the fear of failure (and things not being perfect) prevent you from sometimes even trying (hence resulting in procrastination)?
Do you set high expectations of yourself and when things don’t go “perfectly” or to plan, you become a harsh inner critic?
Do you suffer from fear of unfulfilled potential?
Don’t worry, you’re not alone. And it’s not surprising, considering the achievement driven culture that we live in. The constant need to perform, achieve and improve can create tremendous stress for anyone, let alone for a perfectionist.
The thing with perfectionism is that it can fuel anxiety, keeping us stuck in our heads worrying about making the right decision to avoid perceived “failure.” This prolonged deliberation can be exhausting leading to “analysis paralysis” whereby we try to predict and control the outcome. The irony lies in that in this desire to strive and perform to seek perfection, we can often get so stuck leading to procrastination due to the fear of the result not being good enough. And thus as a result of overwhelm leading to inaction, we then have a self-fulfilling prophecy around inadequacy. Keeping us in this limited state of being.
Sound familiar? (…..yep!)
Have you ever wondered what the driving force is behind your behaviour? What are the emotional motivators that keep you stuck under the illusionary spell of perfectionism?
Because that is what it is: an illusion. Perfectionism is unrealistic & unattainable, a coping mechanism that develops seeking and avoiding behaviours and can keep us in a perpetuating cycle of loss, shame, judgement, and inadequacy.
There are many driving forces behind perfectionism (but not limited to):
- Not feeling good enough
- Fear of Failure (making mistakes which can actually create procrastination , indecision and inaction)
- Fear of rejection (need for acceptance)
- The need to meet people’s expectations (not letting others down)
- Seeking approval through performance/success / achievement.
Because thought alone can activate the stress response aka. Fight or flight, it is imperative to bring conscious awareness to negative subconscious thoughts and threat perceptions which mainly develop during our childhood years and shift our perceptions and associations.
Kinesiology can support you to identify and dissolve beliefs behind your perfectionist behaviour and help reduce that harsh inner critic by moving you towards greater inner connection and acceptance of the inherent value that you have within.
Find Out More About Kinesiology
You can find our integrated health clinic at Suite 3b/367 Barrenjoey Rd Newport NSW 2106. View our Kinesiology page here.
Our resident kinesiologist and mind body practitioner is Emma Taylor.
- Are You a Practising or Recovering Perfectionist? - 29 June 2021
- Our Stress Response – How Kinesiology can help. - 17 August 2020
- Kinesiology 101 - 28 May 2020
