Counseling for Individuals Struggling with Perfectionism

Recover From Perfectionism

Completing tasks is difficult unless they turn out perfectly. You wait until the last minute to finish a task and stress about it until it’s done. 

Your inner monologue tells you “If it’s not right, then it’s a mistake.” You find you have persistent all good or all bad thoughts that impact all your interactions.

You feel a constant burden of anxiety and fear whenever you try to move forward in your life.

The burden of perfectionism can feel heavy and large. It becomes the “monster” that paralyzes us when we want to get something done, spend time with someone, or even help those around us. 

Instead of feeling a “go with the flow”  perspective, you have constant racing thoughts around making a mistake or things not turning out right. Relationships and even just existing can feel terrifying if we don’t appear perfect. 

Without appearing perfect you don’t even know who you are anymore.

Healing from Perfectionism

Having to constantly perform perfectly is exhausting. It’s possible to give yourself space to move through the world authentically and discover your own sense of self. 

You can unburden the parts of yourself that feel it’s their job to present a specific mold to the world, making tasks and engaging with others easier. You can let go of the consistent need to perform tasks perfectly and change your thoughts around procrastination. 

Through meditation and guided breathing, you can learn to calm the anxiety associated with perfectionism. 

Freedom from Perfectionism

Societal expectations can make us feel we have to perform perfectly. In childhood, we may learn to take on the role of being the “perfect child,” creating a sense of safety and knowing ourselves within our chaotic family systems.

This continues into our adolescent and adult years, solidifying the need to be performative long term. Our identity develops around our accomplishments and performance.

When we are working on your perfectionism, I’ll start by creating a safe and soothing environment where you can explore your deepest feelings and long-held belief systems.

Some of our work can include exploring your role within your family system growing up and the connections to the roles you play in your current life. 

With Somatic techniques, we will scan your body and find the spaces where you hold anxiety; this allows us to understand the belief systems and messaging you have around perfectionism. 

Using Internal Family Systems (IFS), we will tune into that perfectionistic part and try to understand its perception around protecting you so that we can help unburden this job and release it from its weight.

Accepting All of You Even When You Aren’t Perfect

I teach you how to meet this perfectionistic part of your system not only non-judgmentally, but with love and curiosity. This may feel difficult because often perfectionism feels heavy and burdensome. Adding extra stress and frustration to your daily life.

But when we befriend this perfectionist part using my system and yours together, we allow this part to show us why it does what it does and what it needs to lower it’s intensity.