One of the ways perfectionism shows up in my life is as the “one right thing” fantasy -- the idea that there’s only ever one right decision, solution, or next step.

And that I need to keep searching until I find it.

Which means that life becomes a process of looking for the right answer, for the thing I’m missing that will make everything perfect, rather than an adventure in experimenting, creating, and living.

Because there’s some predetermined right answer that I have to figure out before I can take my next step forward.

But what if there are a million “right” answers (or none at all)?

What if our one right next step is the one right next step just because we decide it is?

What if we could trust our own powers of resourcefulness + ingenuity to work with the data, resources, and materials we have to make our best guess -- and then simply try again if we miss the mark, having learned along the way?

In perfectionism mode, I’ve not only abandoned possibility; I’m also discounting my own abilities to create solutions + pathways for myself through play, failure, grit, and creativity.

So this is the thought I’m working to internalize instead:

There’s no one right way, just infinite possibility.

Because life isn’t a tightrope where we fall into the abyss if we take one step off the linear line of perfection.

It’s a winding journey with countless portals + passageways into new worlds and infinite doors + windows that open to another possibility.

And in such a world, there's plenty of space to find our way + create our path, one step at a time, one moment at a time, one failure or success at a time.

What changes when you see it this way?