The Heart of a Lioness

There are many people in my life who think that I have “everything together” or “my ducks in a row.” I have always driven myself to appear perfect at whatever I did. For the longest time, it was not because I felt confident, but to cover up my feelings of being a failure. I was truly convinced no one would like the real me. The one who made mistakes, the one who wasn’t always smart, the sassy, fierce, and comical person I really am.

Being the typical people-pleasing -responsible person, I felt smug because I’d figured out that the way to please everyone was to be perfect.But perfectionism feeds on itself like a snake eating its own tail. So the more I undertook, the more opportunities existed for me to screw up. It was a never ending battle of against myself. People admired me, but they didn’t really like me because, let’s face it, who can relate to someone who’s more like a flawless cardboard cutout than a genuine person? I had no close friends but convinced myself I didn’t need them. That was how I always pushed people away. This was until recently.

I’ve realized the world needs more real people. The people who you don’t need to look at your phone when you talk to them. The people that make you laugh. The honest, trustworthy, imperfectly perfect type of person! You know…the genuine one. I mean…JENuine one.

Looking back, I feel stupid that I stuck with the mirage of perfection until major life catastrophes forced me to simply surrender. Especially once I had a taste of how much happier and more powerful I felt taking even a seemingly small step like saying “I don’t know.”

So please don’t wait until your most life-shattering moments give you no other choice but to liberate yourself from perfection’s shackles. I’m still a people-pleasing-responsible person, but one who knows how to handle life with a comical approach.

Start right now and let yourself be imperfectly, gloriously, lovingly human and have the heart of a golden lioness.