get out there.

 

(source)

I am such a perfectionist. And my motto in life tends to be, "If I can't do it right I'm not going to do it at all." I hate letting myself down and I hate letting others down because I feel like if I make mistakes or screw something up I'll be a failure and there will be no coming back from it. But I've slowly been learning that an attitude like that does you more harm than good.

It's OKAY to make mistakes. In fact, it's a good thing. Mistakes are what allow us to grow as individuals. They help us learn and change. And if we don't embrace that - if we just sit there scared of making them - then we miss out on so many experiences in life.

I used to think this even stretched out to my relationship with God. I knew that my sins were forgiven, but I still thought that I had to do everything I could to strive and strive and strive to be perfect for Him. Every week I would come to church feeling guilty and broken for all the things I had done wrong, make all these promises to Him that I would get it right the next week and then end up screwing it up all over again. It took me YEARS to finally realize that's not how He works. 

He has covered those of us who will accept it with his amazing grace because He KNOWS we're going to make mistakes. And people expect each other to make mistakes too. Because we're growing and learning and changing. Because we're only human and we can't get it all right and we aren't expected to. And that's something we have to learn to embrace about ourselves. Because if we don't, we're not living. We're just spending all of our time scared of life and scared of our own capabilities.

That's all. Just sharing what was on my mind today. This is something I've been wrestling with lately and it definitely helps to get it written out. :)  

What do YOU think?