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The Perfect Solution to Your Imperfection
I'm inspired daily by the people around me. Their stories, their lives, their victories and their struggles and one woman led me to think on this message of imperfection. I have been coaching her through changing her mindset and increasing her mindfulness. One goal that she has set for herself is weight loss and as we talked through her daily habits, I could see that her mindfulness throughout the week was stellar! She knew what she was eating, how she was moving, how it made her feel, how it made her struggle. How many of you are challenging yourself to be that self aware?
This victory was beautiful to me as a coach. She lost one pound that week. Even better. But I saw a flash of disappointment in her eyes. Wow! She is building a daily habit that will change everything. It will help her to understand her body in a way that is a huge building block in creating the best version of herself. She didn't allow the disappointment to defeat her, instead she resolved to continue building towards her goals.
This moment with her had me thinking all day. I'm always thinking of EVERY individual in my life and how I can reach them, of how I can help them better to make a true and positive change. It brought me to the struggle that many of us allow to defeat ourselves. Our imperfection.
In her circumstance, she did not quit herself. But there are so many women I've seen give up on themselves because it comes down to the fact that they aren't perfect. Our imperfection can actually discount the underlying progress that is happening. Reread that last sentence and let it settle in. Progress is happening. Imperfection is robbing you of celebrating it and eventually it can drive you to stop all together.
So how do I fix this problem of being so self critical?
GRACE.
It's not so easy to give yourself grace. For me personally, it's so much easier to give it to everyone else. But I hold myself to a much more unreasonable standard. In every circumstance that you feel disappointment in yourself, stop and ask yourself three questions:
What victory did I have?
What did I learn about myself?
What can I do next time to be more successful?
Answer those questions and then surrender to grace. Don't allow yourself to think any longer on your imperfection, move forward and don't look back.
-Danielle Avila