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perfectionism struggles

User Profile: jwlsearching7
jwlsearching7 August 3rd, 2024

hey friends,

I’ve been feeling really isolated in these feelings lately, and I would just like to know if I’m not alone. Does anyone else struggle with perfectionism to a debilitating, spiraling, harmful degree?


I have immigrant parents and I’m from an incredibly competitive area where everybody is the next person to race. I was a gifted kid academically, and all my teachers family and friends assigned that role to me for life. I can’t seem to escape it. I have to be perfect in grades, and now in personality, interests, thoughts, etc. I also place this pressure on myself because I don’t know what my identity would be if I failed at these things.


Anyways, that’s just a long rant. I’m tired of teetering on this pedestal and slipping every day. Does anyone else relate to low self-esteem due to perfectionism? Does anyone else spiral at the tiniest failure?

4
User Profile: ZzoezZ
ZzoezZ August 11th, 2024

@jwlsearching7 Oof, sorry dude. I understand the feeling of beating yourself up at small mistakes but I feel for u its on another level... Must be frustrating.

I hope this video helps: https://youtu.be/7DjRLZKx55A?si=BV5eVz-Jn_SA11fl 

User Profile: vibes087
vibes087 August 12th, 2024

@jwlsearching7
Hey there, it depends how you process it. Maybe take a moment and recognize for yourself- in what areas your perfectionism has actually helped you in the recent past. 
Every word including "perfectionism" has a positive and a negative significance. Its just that our brain is inherently designed to focus on the negatives. 

This is my favorite article on perfectionism, backed by research: 
https://hbr.org/2019/04/how-to-manage-your-perfectionism