Too perfect
Emma Pinn
I'm reading "Too Perfect" by Mallinger and DeWyze at the moment. The book's main focus is identifying perfectionism and other obsessive personality traits. My favourite lines from the book address perfectionists: "What genius convinced you that you should never make mistakes? Or that making mistakes proves something is wrong with you?... Who took your wonderful human qualities - your candor, spontaneity, your vulnerability, creativity and openness - and convinced you that anything else could ever be more valuable or lovable?"
What excellent advice. Fear of mistakes and rejection, and an intense need for security and control, are all bound up in perfectionism. Perfectionism is not a good thing - it's neither adaptive nor helpful in achieving life goals; it paralyses out of fear of error, defeating and demoralising through ubiquitously unattainable standards.
If you struggle with perfectionism I strongly recommend the above book. And a good therapist.