Allowing for imperfection

Ways I'm imperfect, and learning to be ok with it

Hello, I’m Jodie. I write about my life lived a little slower post burnout! You cam Subscribe to support my work & to read more. Or, join our Slower Space community to access all content, meditations, events and the monthly journaling club! Can’t wait to see you there…

An imperfection, according to the dictionary, is a fault, blemish or undesirable feature.

It’s the stuff that make you less perfect.

The stuff we wish we could change about ourselves, feel shame or ruminate over.

People talk about embracing imperfections. I wouldn’t say I’m there yet, but I’m certainly more allowing of my own. Imperfection for me has been about getting more comfortable with who I really am, the good and bad - the whole lot.

This post is inspired by the theme for November’s Monthly Journaling club (on the 4th at 8pm UK time, hosted on Zoom) which is ✨ imperfection ✨, after our usual monthly check-in we’ll be moving onto some prompts dedicated to this, so if you’d like to dig a little deeper, become a paid subscriber and join us here!

When journaling on the prompts I’d written for the session, I felt like I wanted to lift the lid and share the things that came up for me. If you can resonate with any, please let me know in the comments!

Some of the ways I see myself as imperfect…

• Despite wanting to be more intentional, I can be flakey with my ideas and dreams and procrastinate heavily. I’ve had a website for over a year that I haven’t done anything with!

• I have voice notes that I’ve needed to respond to for over a month

• I have cows milk in my tea

• I check back at my content to see how much engagement it’s got too often that I’d like

• I’m an all or nothing kind of gal. When I first discovered slow, seasonal living I went all in and got strict with myself about it. Now I feel more balanced, but that tendency to attach myself to a label and run with it is there.

• Every time I’ve attempted to make a sourdough starter, it’s failed

• I’m bothered by how others perceive me (I know it’s none of my business, but it’s still there)

• I can get easily flustered when trying something new if it doesn’t work out

• Despite years of therapy, setting healthy boundaries and then not feeling guilty for them is still soooo uncomfortable

• I was vegetarian for 5 years, now I occasionally eat meat

It’s been quite an interesting exercise writing this list. I’m going to be honest, there’s a few more but they just felt too vulnerable to share - but I know we all have this stuff!

So many of these are subjective, or shaped because of how society has told us we should live to be better humans, or to fit in.

But also knowing some of these and shining a light on them is helpful! Knowing I have a tendency to procrastinate means I can put things in place to help me. Knowing I feel uncomfortable when setting boundaries means I can check-in with myself better afterwards.

Ultimately, now, I trust that firstly, I really don’t have to be perfect, but also, I can be all of those things above and still be a good person.

We’re allowed to have flaws!

I can’t find who created the quote, but, I’m going to sign off with this as it sums it up perfectly…

Perfection is a subjective myth

As I said, if anything resonates, I’d love to know in the comments!

Until next time,

Jodie x

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