Welcome to my *perfect* blog!

By / February 1, 2008 1:43 PM

This is my first blog. Ever. About anything. And I’ve been feeling a lot of self-imposed pressure to do a great job — which is, frankly, making the job I do exponentially worse: I write an entry; fret over each word; overedit my prose into boring, uninspired drivel; fret again; delete the whole document; start over. It’s been 6 days. Perfectionism is the bane of blogging. So, it would seem, as I debut a blog about personal development and quality of life and it’s myriad components — easing stress, finding happiness, being creative, lifelong learning, learning to let go, finding that perfect spot on the couch (you know the one where you’re bathed in afternoon sunlight, a fat, lazy cat wrapped around your head) — I have some personal development of my own to work on. I need to let go, not worry so much, intentionally spell a word rong or something to give myself permission just to write. So with that: blah blah blah and, also, blah. What’s more, yada yada yada. In conclusion, phht. In the movie of my life that plays in my head, I’m fully self-actualized. In my life as it actually happens, I’m awash in a sea of areas to improve — and what a relief to admit it. The second I gave myself permission not to be perfect — to write a blog filled with blah and phht and not spontaneously combust of anxiety and shame — I started writing. I was getting somewhere. Embracing imperfection proved both cathartic and productive. What tosses a monkey wrench in your best-laid plans? Fear of failure? Fear of success? Lack of inertia? A paralyzing case of perfectionism? Another Project Runway marathon? How do you de-monkey wrench your plans? What works? What doesn’t? What other questions, perspectives and interesting detritus from your life would you like to blog about with imperfectly-blogging me? Let me know because I’ll be writing here regularly about what is bubbling up in the culture about how we live, stay healthy and build the lives we want. Without your input, you’ll be stuck reading about whatever is on my mind, which disproportionately includes wondering what I will make for dinner and whether or not my youngest dog has fetal alcohol syndrome (see photo). I’ll also be reading new (and some old) books and articles on everything quality-of-life related, from time management to finding happiness to stomping out perfectionism to how to talk to people at cocktail parties about books you’ve never read — and I’ll try out the theories in my own life and bring all the highlights, lowlights and just plain weird happenings here. Watch for me to be fully self-actualized in a few short months. (Just kidding — mostly). Imperfectly, Laine