Abuse

Perfectionism can put a significant strain on relationships. People with perfectionistic tendencies can often lead to feeling dissatisfied and unfulfilled in a relationship. When it's difficult to embrace imperfections in a relationship, it can lead to criticism, and an erosion of intimacy and connection. Perfectionism can create tension, frustration, distrust, and hinder genuine connection.

How Perfectionism Can Harm Relationships

Perfectionism has a way of creating distance in a relationship, often making your partner feel they're not good enough and somehow always coming up short. If you set unrealistic expectations for your partner to become perfect (or close to it), it generally leads to resentment and disappointment, and can take the life out of the relationship.

Unrealistic Expectations

Perfectionism often leads to unrealistic expectations in relationships. You may hold your partner to impossibly high standards, expecting them, on some level, to make you happy or fulfilled by their actions or who they are in the relationship. This often leads to pressure to come through with the impossible, and can your partner feel resentful, guilty, defeated, or a number of other negative feelings towards themselves and the relationship. Over time, these expectations can impact trust and intimacy, leaving your partner feeling inadequate and constantly scrutinized.

Deeper Fears

The perfectionist’s relentless pursuit of flawlessness can stem from a variety of deeper inadequacies. Some of these can be a fear of their own imperfections and flaws, coping with trauma or past abuse or neglect, fear of failure, or even a carryover from trying to reduce parental arguments or marital issues in the house growing up, and more. You may constantly strive for unattainable standards, terrified of making mistakes or falling short, due to the scary perceived repercussions. A perfectionist often fears that if they (and the others around them) aren't perfect, then everything will fall apart.

Criticism and Judgment

Perfectionism can often manifest as criticism and judgment in relationships. You may constantly scrutinize your partner’s actions, appearance, or decisions. This mindset can build resentment into the relationship, erode trust and intimacy, and create an atmosphere of tension and anxiety. Your partner may feel like they’re walking on eggshells, never quite knowing how to meet these standards. Over time, this constant judgment can lead to decreased self-esteem, and, ultimately, relationship breakdown.

Difficulty Asking for Help

People who struggle with perfectionism can sometimes find it difficult to ask for help, fearing it may reveal their perceived inadequacies. You might hesitate to delegate tasks or request support, believing you should be able to handle everything on your own. For many, this can be the result of being left to figure out their own emotions and figure out life growing up without much emotional support. However, help is something necessary for everybody, and when not able to ask for help, people can often implode under the impossible pressure of making everything happen themselves.

This reluctance to utilize help can strain relationships, as partners may feel excluded or undervalued; or even because the stress levels of the perfectionist who is trying to figure out everything on their own makes it difficult to be emotionally available for the relationship. Recognizing that asking for help is a strength and necessity is important for not only relationships, but for overall mental health stability.

All-or-Nothing Thinking

Perfectionism very often shows up in all-or-nothing thinking. You may view situations in extreme terms, seeing outcomes as complete successes or total failures. This black-and-white mentality can lead to unrealistic expectations of yourself and your partner, creating unnecessary stress and conflict in your relationships, and for yourself. It can feel as if any shortcoming collapses everything, leading to impossible pressure to achieve perfection. This can also lead to higher anxiety, stress, and depression for you, and even for others around you.

Allowing Help & Moving Forward

There is more to perfectionism than the above. While it isn't necessarily an issue to strive for perfection in some ways, as this can be an asset to people in certain areas of life, it is important to know how to make space for imperfection, flaws, and middle ground, especially in relationships. A relationship is, at its core, made up of two people who are humans and have flaws. Expecting perfection in many ways is already a setup for failure in a relationship.

#Relationships #MentalHealth #perfectionism #Anxiety #Depression

Perfectionism can put a significant strain on relationships. People with perfectionistic tendencies can often lead to feeling dissatisfied and unfulfilled in a relationship. When it's difficult to embrace imperfections in a relationship, it can lead to criticism, and an erosion of intimacy and connection. Perfectionism can create tension, frustration, distrust, and hinder genuine connection.

How Perfectionism Can Harm Relationships

Perfectionism has a way of creating distance in a relationship, often making your partner feel they're not good enough and somehow always coming up short. If you set unrealistic expectations for your partner to become perfect (or close to it), it generally leads to resentment and disappointment, and can take the life out of the relationship.

Unrealistic Expectations

Perfectionism often leads to unrealistic expectations in relationships. You may hold your partner to impossibly high standards, expecting them, on some level, to make you happy or fulfilled by their actions or who they are in the relationship. This often leads to pressure to come through with the impossible, and can your partner feel resentful, guilty, defeated, or a number of other negative feelings towards themselves and the relationship. Over time, these expectations can impact trust and intimacy, leaving your partner feeling inadequate and constantly scrutinized.

Deeper Fears

The perfectionist’s relentless pursuit of flawlessness can stem from a variety of deeper inadequacies. Some of these can be a fear of their own imperfections and flaws, coping with trauma or past abuse or neglect, fear of failure, or even a carryover from trying to reduce parental arguments or marital issues in the house growing up, and more. You may constantly strive for unattainable standards, terrified of making mistakes or falling short, due to the scary perceived repercussions. A perfectionist often fears that if they (and the others around them) aren't perfect, then everything will fall apart.

Criticism and Judgment

Perfectionism can often manifest as criticism and judgment in relationships. You may constantly scrutinize your partner’s actions, appearance, or decisions. This mindset can build resentment into the relationship, erode trust and intimacy, and create an atmosphere of tension and anxiety. Your partner may feel like they’re walking on eggshells, never quite knowing how to meet these standards. Over time, this constant judgment can lead to decreased self-esteem, and, ultimately, relationship breakdown.

Difficulty Asking for Help

People who struggle with perfectionism can sometimes find it difficult to ask for help, fearing it may reveal their perceived inadequacies. You might hesitate to delegate tasks or request support, believing you should be able to handle everything on your own. For many, this can be the result of being left to figure out their own emotions and figure out life growing up without much emotional support. However, help is something necessary for everybody, and when not able to ask for help, people can often implode under the impossible pressure of making everything happen themselves.

This reluctance to utilize help can strain relationships, as partners may feel excluded or undervalued; or even because the stress levels of the perfectionist who is trying to figure out everything on their own makes it difficult to be emotionally available for the relationship. Recognizing that asking for help is a strength and necessity is important for not only relationships, but for overall mental health stability.

All-or-Nothing Thinking

Perfectionism very often shows up in all-or-nothing thinking. You may view situations in extreme terms, seeing outcomes as complete successes or total failures. This black-and-white mentality can lead to unrealistic expectations of yourself and your partner, creating unnecessary stress and conflict in your relationships, and for yourself. It can feel as if any shortcoming collapses everything, leading to impossible pressure to achieve perfection. This can also lead to higher anxiety, stress, and depression for you, and even for others around you.

Allowing Help & Moving Forward

There is more to perfectionism than the above. While it isn't necessarily an issue to strive for perfection in some ways, as this can be an asset to people in certain areas of life, it is important to know how to make space for imperfection, flaws, and middle ground, especially in relationships. A relationship is, at its core, made up of two people who are humans and have flaws. Expecting perfection in many ways is already a setup for failure in a relationship.

#Relationships #MentalHealth #perfectionism #Anxiety #Depression

Doing a round-up of this week and realised I'm reaching out more to colleagues, my wife and even my brother this week. Starting to see I have a small network of wonderful people I can rely on, share life and have fun with. Feels like a tentative slow-burner, but I'm enjoying the quietly strengthening curiosity that this realisation has uncovered in me.

#Abuse #DissociationDisorders #PTSD

Today's affirmation given by The Mighty is — "If you have a setback, remember — you're not starting from scratch, you're starting from experience."

This is how the mindset of someone, whose stuck in perfectionism, should be.
Perfectionism is never worth it. Let me give you a few points to take it too far. I'm sure they'll help you understand how irrational the idea of being obsessed with perfection is:
1. You're going to school.
2. You decide to pay attention in classes perfectly.
3. However, you fall asleep in one of the classes. Bam! When you realise that, you decide to leave your school, thinking that you've failed to execute your goal of a perfect, error-free school life.
4. In Google, you type 'Perfect school near me'.
5. You get no results. Bam! You stop using Google, considering it imperfect and worthless. You think that Google did a mistake by not giving you a single search result.
6. You think of what search engine to use, which is perfect.
7. You eventually don't find any perfect search engine.
8. You ask ChatGPT, "Which search engine is perfect?". ChatGPT gives you this answer: "Sorry, I can't assist.". Damn it!! You even stop using ChatGPT, considering it to be imperfect because of its response.
9. In a newspaper, you search for articles which recommend you schools to get admitted to. Bam! You find your old school mentioned in such an article. You stop reading newspapers, considering it to be a mistake in that article, and thus, considering newspapers to be imperfect.
10. You eventually find out that all schools in the world are imperfect.
11. You eventually find yourself imperfect.
12. You eventually find your life imperfect too.
13. You get suicidal ideations because of that.

But, here's a very good example:
14. You consider even your suicidal ideations useless. You don't find death perfect, and you don't find life perfect either.
So, what's the way out of this?

The way out is creating a divorce application by yourself and signing it by yourself. In that way, consider yourself divorced from perfectionism.

But again, the problem here could be looking for a perfect way to create a perfect divorce application form.

Ultimately, you'll abuse yourself for such obsession with perfection. So, why even care about marrying perfection and staying committed to it?

Had a big therapy session last Friday. Think my therapist must have known something about how my body would react. She said "show yourself some love this week". Today I have crashed and burned. There is a monster inside me who hates me and wants me dead and it is a chimera made up of my Mum, my Dad and the most demanding, critical, self-hating parts of myself. What the hell do I do with this. The last thing I want to do is show myself love. It's all I can do to sit and stare blankly into space. (The pic isn't me, but it gets as close as possible to how I feel right now).

#Depression #DissociationDisorders #NarcissisticPersonalityDisorder #Abuse

Anyone else revisit favourite books from childhood? Finding it really nurturing to revisit Winnie the Pooh (the originals with the beautiful EH Shepherd illustrations) and re-read it whenever I need a cheerful, cosy moment. There's something about Winnie the Pooh being a collection of stories that the narrator is reading to indulge their own beloved child/grandchild that I really relate to as a Dad and find really comforting as an abuse survivor because it evokes that affectionate parental climate that was missing in my childhood. Feels deeply personal and really special to read them just for me; as well as read them to my two lovely girls.

How do you recapture those nurturing moments? What books/activities (if any) do you enjoy for this purpose?

#Depression #PTSD #NarcissisticPersonalityDisorder #Abuse