This might sound strange, but when a person has been striving for the perfect words in each and every conversation, the perfect interactions, and a total fear of disappointment or miscommunication with others, this is a very difficult goal to attain. It requires an entire paradigm shift. God help me if the other party doesn't "get me" or "understand me".
Yet, this is where our health resides. Imperfection. Miscommunication. Imperfect interactions. Not being "understood" by everyone. Not even being liked by everyone. It gets messy and unpredictable. The weirdness can feel overwhelming.
Unhealthy lifestyles you might identify with include: work perfectionists, parental perfectionists, athletic or music perfectionists. My default unhealthy lifestyle is: relational perfectionism. Maybe some of you can identify.
My new goal is relational imperfection. Not as permission to harm others, but permission to try to communicate imperfectly. To try new things. To set healthy boundaries. To be okay with making relational mistakes. To forgive and be forgiven instead of running away from the imperfection. To be okay with broken relationships that need time to heal or relationships that are simply changing or evolving. To rejoice in maturing relationships as well.
This is one place where God desires to heal his children. Relational imperfection.
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