Sunday, September 21, 2008

Imperfect is my middle name 9

You are so busy trying to make everything perfect in your life right now that you're forgetting how satisfying and beautiful imperfections can be! Today you need to challenge yourself to step back and take a break from your attention to detail. Let your eyes focus on far away ideas instead of immediate minutia. Get a fresh perspective. Right now you don't have to prove anything, so relax and remind yourself that being less than impeccable is also called being human.

I'm pretty sure I've got the "less than impeccable" thing down. But I had to have a conversation with Daughter this evening about the very same thing. She has been working so hard on her new skating team but was pulled aside by the coach tonight who told her she can't believe how well Daughter is blending in but her moves aren't quite up to the standards for judging and she's going to have to start pulling her out at practice (so they can practice the routine with skaters that can be judged). Daughter has worked SO hard and come SO far and all the work will pay off for her eventually, but I know how hard that was for her to hear. And I had to be positive and give her a pep talk when all I really wanted to do was call the coach and yell at her for taking the wind out of my daughter's sails!

But it's a lesson for both of us. One I keep learning, and one I hope she learns a lot faster than I am. You won't always get immediate gratification; in fact, sometimes gratification is a long time coming. And imperfections are beautiful - that is the only reason I've had a career.

Thanks for the reminder and the fresh perspective, Universe. But you didn't have to break my son's arm for me to get the imperfection message.

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