Sunday, July 5, 2020

Emotional Math & the Perfectionist

A few weeks ago I was talking to one of my best friends from college. We both were in the same math program. I was talking about being seen and heard.

"You know that to be seen and heard is to be loved," she said. Suppose that were an equation...


to be seen + to be heard = to be loved

not seen = not loved

not heard = not loved


Here is more emotional math. Here is how a perfectionist thinks:

to be human = not be perfect

not be perfect = to be a failure

to be human = to be a failure

what? that's whack. Or at least deeply unsettling..,

This seems okay...
to be human = not be perfect

not be perfect = to fail

to be human = to fail


Why is the second one more sensible than the first? Noun...

to be human = not be perfect

not be perfect = to be a failure (noun)

to be human = to be a failure (noun)

versus verb...

to be human = not be perfect

not be perfect = to fail (verb)

to be human = to fail (verb)

I think of being a failure as a state of mind, a way of being. To fail, that is something that happens to everyone was we trot through life.

No comments: