Saturday, March 5, 2011

Progess vs. Perfectionism

I've been thinking about blogging for a very long time, but the reason I have not until now is that I was afraid it wouldn't be that good. And even if it were good, it wouldn't be good enough. My "good enough" generally translates to perfect. I am a perfectionist, and therefore a procrastinator. Perfectionist procrastinating housewives are tough to live with. I'll get upset that the floor is dirty, but won't have the opportunity to do a full on hands-and-knees scrub and so it stays just as bad. And all I do is get more and more bothered. I'm working on this; my husband says to look for progress rather than perfection. He's right, of course. It's hard to say, even to myself, that I will never totally have it all together. That isn't life, and I know that, but I still feel like it should be! I'm working on establishing routines to help the household run smoothly, or at least make progress in that direction!

Another reason I think it's so easy for housewives to fall into the perfectionism trap (I know I'm not the only one) is that housewifery is "all" we do. For us, this is truly a vocation and we take it seriously. The world tells us that we should be able to do all this and have a career too, and I'm struggling just to keep up with the dishes and the laundry?!?! When I started this homemaking gig two years ago, I was surprised by how hard it really was! There must be something wrong with me, I'm behind, and I have to catch up RIGHT NOW! Of course, I can't do that, and it just makes me feel more and more hopeless. So I'm trying to adopt the "progress" focus over the "perfection" focus. When I do manage to do that well, I'm much happier and therefore so is my family. As the homemaker, I also set the mood for the rest of the family. Even my 10 month old is very responsive to my emotional state!

So there are lots of works in progress in our home: myriad sewing projects, gardening, cooking experiments, fixing things up, but most importantly my husband, my son, and myself! I'm looking forward to documenting the progress of this homemaker in the making.

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