07/23/2026
I used to think that if I just worked hard enough, there would be no mistakes. But, I was wrong!
It’s not about the hard work, because being human means mistakes will happen, no matter how many times you review the details.
If you are a perfectionist, this may help.
Perfectionism stems from a series of conditions mostly developed in childhood. It may have been critical caregivers, conditional love, pressure to achieve, or a fear of failure.
Maybe you’ve felt that love was tied to your achievement. Or that your perceived failure would result in shame. And social media doesn’t help.
Its a messy knot of unrealistic self-criticism. I’m a recovering perfectionist.
My first job out of college stoked this tendency toward perfectionism. I worried incessantly, I worried, and stewed about what MIGHT go wrong, all night long. For 18 years, I woke up at 2am, 3am in debilitating fear. I was fighting shadows in the dark, until I started studying astrology.
Slowly, things shifted, little by little, as I saw how the archetypes were playing out in my life and the purpose they held. Its an objective mirror in which to see yourself more clearly. I was finally able to recognize that sometimes things that don’t work out are actually a gift. Mistakes are master teachers.
Brene Brown said this, “Perfectionism is a twenty-ton shield we lug around thinking it will protect us when, in fact, it’s the thing that’s really preventing us from taking flight.”
It’s funny how the people who know us and love us can sing our praises, yet we can be so harsh in judging ourselves.
Honest self-reflection is necessary if you want to eliminate that harsh inner critic. Studying the archetypes (astrology) is a helpful mirror that can put things into perspective. Hard work and perseverating on the details does not guarantee a free pass from mistakes.
Maybe this is the sign you don’t have to stay attached to an old belief.