Forgiving ourselves is an important step in our personal growth. I've always been a "rusher", check my grade school report cards. Though I rush to the next task, that doesn't mean I don't spend time in the rearview mirror. By revisiting my actions, I hope to produce a different outcome; next time. Sigh. No amount of reflection has ever changed my ability to remove my typos. Instead, I embrace this flaw saying, "I am a Typo Queen."
Some things can't be perfect in my life.
Sitting down recently with the Chief Operating Officer of Wake Tech Foundation, Stephanie Lake to prep for our pearl video, we caught up on life. As we discussed our families and careers we realized our pearl should be around self-forgiveness. We both agreed, to strive for excellence, but don't beat yourself up for imperfect moments. In today's workplace mental health & self-care are discussed in the open, rather than in a storage closet; not the norm when we started our professional journey.
Over coffee, we found ourselves pondering the roots of our own confidence and insecurities. Stephanie wondered where I developed an ability to forgive myself for easily corrected mistakes such as spelling errors, typos, and even mispronunciations in a professional setting. Reflecting, I realized my mom & her mom (MeeMaw) excelled in many areas, yet let other aspects of their life go.
Neither felt a need to be perfect everywhere, all the time.
Remember our post with Julianne about quilting & not matching?
My grandmother was amazing in the kitchen. She never used recipes. Housekeeping? Not flawless. My mom wasn't a whiz in the kitchen, but amazing behind a sewing machine.
As a teenager, I was already into design. I was constantly trying to get my mom to change the house- update the interior or buy new things. Instead, she told me "the house" was fine, change didn't matter. She was not trying to please everyone, it was her home. It escaped me till this pearls series that Mom & MeeMaw gave me a great gift. They owned their personal space and it didn't matter what others saw - it was perfectly fine to them.
After all, perfection is someone else's moving target. There is only one of you.
Watch our upcoming videos on socials and keep following our pearl posts as we feature more amazing women sharing their pearls of wisdom. Did you miss our last post? Follow all the previous pearls' connections here.
As a footnote to this pearl post the photo selected has a lipstick case because my mom never wore makeup. However, when she got "fancy" she put on red lipstick. By contrast, I wear makeup during the week, but not always on the weekend; yes even public! Yet, I never lipstick! It's too fancy for me. It's just not my kind of perfect.
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