Imperfection

As a believer in Christ, I am comfortable being flawed.  I am not supposed to be perfect, and that's a good thing.  Being perfect takes a lot of work; it's a lot of pressure to never mess up, to never let them see you sweat.  As a type-A personality, though, I feel the need to always do my best, and I often feel that my best is just not good enough.  More often than not, I feel that I can always do better, and I will beat myself up over the smallest mistakes and make myself sick with worry.

I don't see that going anyway anytime soon, but I feel inspired after learning about Brene Brown and watching her TED talks.  Dr. Brown is on faculty at University of Houston and researches vulnerability, courage, shame, and worthiness.  She also works with professionals who want to facilitate her work in their places of employment.

This is a long talk, almost 20 minutes, but I believe it's worth the time.

I recently purchased her book The Gifts of Imperfection.  I plan to share my thoughts on her research in future blog postings.  I hope her writing will benefit me, as well as many of you who may struggle with feeling unworthy.  I'm encouraged that it's based on research data, even though it's not written from a biblical standpoint.  Oh, and if the book is a bust, you may find my copy at Half-Price books. :)