OK, here comes another holiday season where many of us face issues about money, about dealing with our family of origin or about loneliness and separation. I am reminded of another issue that also shows up in bright lights at this time of year. That is the quest to “be perfect”!

Recently, I had a client that called about some trouble she was having with work. Her job was to create and star in some commercial videos, yet she was finding that the harder she tried to perfect her work, the more her bosses found fault with her.

Of course, it turned out that this was Divine Intelligence at work. This client already knew that she had an issue about perfection, but these videos were showing her in living color how impossible her efforts at perfection really were. Her consciousness was letting her know through this distressful situation that her striving for perfection was not even her real goal.

Our true goal is to grow into our own highest potential. For my client, it turned out that the product that these videos were selling was out of alignment with her commitment to life. She was in conflict with herself, yet she couldn’t get to that clarity because her need “to get it perfect” was blinding her to the simple truth that this was not the job for her. Now instead of wasting time pushing uphill, she can open to the magic of what the Universe has to offer.

I had a similar thing happen with learning Twitter this week. I had taken a significant amount of time to learn the “right” way to utilize this social media tool, but I got myself completely stuck when I worried that I wasn’t doing it perfectly. I was so concerned with the proper protocol that I did nothing! After I realized that I was obsessing about someone else’s definition of perfection, I was able to get in motion again and take action.

Was it “right”? Truthfully, I have no idea. But it connected me to some lovely people, so who cares?

But, maybe the most important thing that I want to share this holiday season is that none of us has to be perfect!!  This is true even for those of us who live in glass houses – coaches, authors, counselors, or anyone in a healing profession. For us, the product or service that we sell is about how to live a better life and clients often look to us as an example. Who wants to buy a book about how to be happy from someone who is depressed all the time, for instance?

But this can be a trap for the professional. Sometimes we think we need to be perfect in order to do the work that we do. Just like my client, we strive harder and harder to live the perfect example of our coaching. Yet, the harder we try, the harder it becomes.

We are all human. We are all still learning, still growing, still expanding. We have things to contribute in spite of (and sometimes because of) our imperfections, our humanness.

So, I invite you this holiday season to notice when your need “to be perfect” pops up. Ask yourself,

• What if imperfection was the new perfect? What would I do then?
• What is it that I actually want in this moment? Is it that old, stiff, stressful version of “perfection” defined by my perception of someone else’s definition of “doing it right”? Or is it the peace I feel when I choose my own way to a delicious, relaxed and natural version of perfection?
• How do I want to re-define perfection for me, for this moment?

Wishing you all a “perfectly YOU” version of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah this week.