CFIDS Monthly Topic- Unhealthy Perfectionism

There is a lot of pressure in our society to excel. It can start withgetting top grades in school or even earlier with parental expectations thattheir baby start walking and talking before others the same age. Soon weprogram ourselves that we should always do "the very best job we can." In this pursuit of perfection, we can wind up putting achievement before ourown welfare. Athletes are lauded for continuing in a competition even wheninjured, and employees are encouraged to do more and work longer hours.When you really stop to think about it, "just do your best" is a draconianmandate.Our topic this month will be recognizing and combating perfectionism. Onereason many of us fell into a push/crash cycle was because we let the"shoulds" drive us. We pushed ourselves unmercifully to accomplish tasks aswe thought they should be done, putting the task ahead of our own health.

So our topic this month is recognizing our unhealthy perfectionism when we are tempted to push ourselves too hard, and discussing alternate strategies.