Wellness Wednesday (n°7): Perfection

The word perfection has been coming up a lot in my life lately, and I wanted to take some time to explore this idea of perfection here on the blog today in terms of our wellness and happiness. 

Tony and I spent the last 7 days of our European travels with my Italian family. You can read more about my connection with them that began 5 years ago here. At a few points during our dinner conversations, we were reflecting on the last 5 years and what has changed. The strength of our relationship? Still as strong as ever. The height of my now 14 year old Italian sister? Major change! Me? It turns out some change had occurred here, too. 

My Italian mother and father pointed it out. They reminded me of how I was 5 years ago, wanting everything just so from my clothes, to my hair, to my makeup, to my life. Of course they loved me for who I was then, but I could tell that they saw more genuine happiness in who I am now. They noted that I was more at ease, less concerned with every detail, and a lot more go with the flow. This is when my Italian mom shared some beautiful advice:

"You don't always need to be perfect. Real life is better."

How right she is. I have enjoyed my life more since I started to gain comfort with the unknown, embrace mistakes as part of the learning process, focus on being truly me rather than someone I thought I should be. I was pondering this on our journey home while catching up on missed episodes of the Simple Sophisticate podcast. It always amazes me how much life speaks to you when you are ready to hear it. Echoing the words of my Italian mom, Shannon shared the following in regards to The Simply Luxurious Life:

"It may appear that life is happy and joyful all the time. It's pretty amazing, I'll give you that. But it didn't come without taking risks, it didn't come without a lot of uncertainty and doubt, but what it did involve is taking steps forward in the direction based on my self knowledge... I've learned to let go of the perfect. That has been liberating. Beyond liberating." 

(The Simple Sophisticate Ep. 161)

She references social media when she says this. And social media makes it harder to let go of perfection. I'll admit I have looked through some of my favorite accounts and thought, "Wow! What a wonderful life she has. If only I could have that." I am ever grateful for one of the most inspirational bloggers I have discovered, Rebecca Plotnick of Every Day Parisian, for tackling this topic just this week. I told you, when you are ready to hear it life has a funny way of communicating with you. In her post In Real Life, I am not Perfect, she shares the following:

"This weekend a friend told me that I sell "perfect" between Instagram and my photography that I sell. That really struck a chord with me because I am far from perfect. Lately, I have been doing a lot of reflecting and I am frustrated. My life doesn't fit into a tiny square box or a rectangle. My life is complicated and far from Instagram perfect. I never want to put out "perfect" in the world because "perfect" isn't real."

I completely relate. Like all of us, Rebecca is not perfect. What she is doing, much like Shannon does, is making it her life mission to find authentic (not perfect) contentedness by listening to her heart and following her dreams. With the inspiration of these women, this is the path I am on, too. It's real. At moments I am scared. At moments I experience doubt. I worry about what others think of me. It isn't perfect. But it is right in that it is me. Truly me. 

Look up perfect in the dictionary: 

(adj) having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.

(verb) make (something) completely free from faults or defects, or as close to such a condition as possible.

"As good as it is possible to be." "As close to such condition as possible." Even the definitions suggest perfection doesn't exist. As I've said from the beginning of Fleur de St. Louis, my mission is to encourage others to commence (begin), to be OK with imperfections, and to embrace opportunities for continuous growth. I continue to live by this mission and I hope that when you come to the Fleur de St. Louis community you feel that. We all face challenges in our lives, and I want this to be a place where those challenges aren't something we push aside but rather something we work through, learn from, and grow from as we seek not perfection but genuineness in who we are. 

Warm wishes to you as you honor your authentic self,

PS: Couldn't get the fonts to match up in this post but in the spirit of its content I decided to let it go. :)