Now, I’ll bet that if someone asked you if you think you’re perfect, you’d say, “Of course not!” After all, who knows your imperfections better than you do? (Plus, it would sound horribly conceited to say, “Yes”.)
But knowing you’re imperfect and EMBRACING being imperfect are two very different things.
If you’re not embracing your imperfection, you’re caught in the hell of TRYING. Trying to lose weight. Trying to look younger. Trying to get the marketing wording just right before you launch.
Trying. Struggling. Panicking.
The other option is to embrace imperfection. Not apologetic imperfection. Not embarrassed imperfection. Not hiding-so-no-one-sees-it imperfection. But RADIANT imperfection.
Here are 5 badass reasons you want to do this.
- You have time for other things. Working to even approach perfection takes unbelievable amounts of time and energy. The Pursuit of Perfection demands unwavering loyalty and focus because, hey!, there’s so much to be fixed. Radiant Imperfection gives you the time and space for the things you love!
- You get to share things with unicorns that really matter. The only thing perfection and unicorns have in common is that they don’t exist (and unicorns are much more likely to be real). Radiant Imperfection and unicorns both have lightness, joy, magic, sparkles, rainbows and fun.
- You get to like yourself – now! Not when you’ve lost that extra weight or gotten your hair dyed or made “real” money in your business. You get to like yourself NOW. Just as you are. The “radiant” part of radiant imperfection comes from shining your inner light, and you can ONLY shine when you accept who you are, as you are, right now.
- You get to actually ENJOY your life. The Pursuit of Perfection is based on the belief that the way your life is right now is wrong. That it’s not good enough. That there’s something missing. That if only things changed, THEN you’d be happy. THEN you’d have a good life. THEN you’d be able to stop and enjoy yourself. Radiant Imperfection says, “Pbbbbttttt” to that!
- You get to breathe. I mean really breathe. Do you realize how shallow your breaths are? Notice right now. Trying to be perfect – and knowing you’re not because, you know, you’re not – leads to lots of emotional armoring. The armor is covering up the imperfections, making sure any soft, vulnerable spots are well hidden and “safe”. This closes you in and keeps you from really breathing.Radiant Imperfection, though, invites you to breathe so deeply that your whole body relaxes. Your shoulders drop down out of your ears. Your stomach expands. You feel like you’re sinking into the chair, supported and comfortable. You remember how good it is to be alive.
The biggest thing, though, THE most badass reason to embrace radiant imperfection is that you get to live YOUR life, pursue YOUR passions, and shine YOUR light.
Click to Tweet: The most badass reason to embrace radiant imperfection: You get to live YOUR life.
The Pursuit of Perfection has you living someone else’s life. The life of the unknown “EVERYONE”. EVERYONE knows you have to be super fit before you can be on stage. EVERYONE knows that if you laugh too loud, you’ll turn people off and they won’t buy from you. EVERYONE says it’s better to work with these people instead of the ones I really want to.
That, my friends, is a small, small life. And YOU aren’t even in it. Everyone else is.
The “perfect” life is more about what you can’t do than what you can. About what you have than what you are. About staying in the box, not making waves, too small to be upsetting to anyone. It’s a life focused on safety and sameness rather than connection and expression.
The radiantly imperfect life has YOU at the center. It’s about what brings you joy and makes you laugh out loud. It’s about letting yourself ruffle some feathers, and taking responsibility for how you respond when yours get ruffled, because that happens in real life. It’s about being gentle with yourself and others, with love, compassion and ease being part of your relationships.
It also means standing up for yourself and what’s important to you in the daily choices that you make. It’s about taking up space, being seen and showing up. It’s about authenticity and genuine connection.
Radiant Imperfection can mean being uncomfortable – sometimes REALLY uncomfortable – and making missteps and apologizing.
It’s about being REAL.
It’s not easy. Many tears are shed on the path of Radiant Imperfection. Commitment, support and deep courage are needed in large doses.
And it’s oh, so worth it!
I’d love to hear about your experiences of Radiant Imperfection in the comments below!
