May 31, 2023
By Kirsten Nicole
Image from Steve Johnson from Pixabay
So, my mother is in a state of forever frustration with me because I LACK attention to detail. Majorly. It does not come naturally to me at all. I'm a big-picture kind of person. And you would THINK that kind of attitude would land me far, far, far away from those who cannot seem to handle anything less than perfection.
And it does...sometimes. But when it comes to things that I love, things that I am passionate about, suddenly some sort of hyper-aware-of-every-detail sensor appears from deep within and I have a debilitating need for everything to be perfect before I move on or share.
This is why I took a two year break after finishing my Master's degree before jumping back in to the publishing adventure. I wanted my story to be perfect. I wanted my website to be perfect. I wanted my social media to be perfect.
But you know something? That was incredibly overwhelming. And it actually prevented me from moving forward with anything publishing related. At all.
So it got me thinking.
Am I a perfectionist in my writing? And...should I be?
So, I put together a brief pros and cons list so I could compare and come to a decision. I'll let you do the comparing and decision-making, but here is the list.
PROS | CONS |
Forces attention to detail | Overwhelming |
Creates something more beautiful and orderly | Can cause stress |
Allows me to present my best work | Stops me from moving forward because I can't make it perfect |
God is orderly and perfect, an attempt to strive after His character | Constant state of comparison with others |
Helps me understand the complexity of God's perfection, because it is so hard for me to achieve | Anxious my work won't be good enough |
Makes me long for the perfection of Heaven | Prevents me from sharing my work with others |
Satisfying | Prevents from evangelizing at times--when I feel my life has to be perfect before I share a part of it |
Helps me understand my imperfection and need for redemption | Can produce less creative work because I focus too hard on it |
Brings me to a realization I will never be perfect, but Christ is! | Causes procrastination |
My discovery in making this list was that maybe, just maybe, there can be a positive and negative side to striving for perfection. Maybe the most important part of perfectionism is the knowledge and acceptance of that the fact that you won't be perfect, in conjunction with the knowledge and acceptance of the fact that you should do your best work to the glory of God.
I'd love to have a discussion with you in the comments!
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