{"id":317,"date":"2012-05-04T06:33:02","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T11:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/?p=317"},"modified":"2012-05-04T06:33:02","modified_gmt":"2012-05-04T11:33:02","slug":"perfection-or-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/?p=317","title":{"rendered":"Perfection, or not"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ok. Let’s set the record straight: I’m not perfect.<\/p>\n

At times it feels like others hold me to a higher standard because I am a therapist. It’s as if since I am a therapist, I should no longer be subject to weaknesses–that I should know better. Yes, there was a time that I did hold myself to a higher standard (though it wasn’t because I am a therapist), and I suppose in some things I still do. But I have worked hard to accept that I am human and therefore subject to one thing that defines being human: I make mistakes– I don’t always make the best decisions.<\/p>\n

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image by ilco<\/p><\/div>\n

I remember when I was training to be a therapist, people would approach my wife and tell her how lucky she was that I was becoming a therapist because I must be so sensitive and such a good listener for her. She would always smile, and then she and I would have a good laugh. Yes, there are times when I am a good listener. There are also times where I am an amazing empathizer for her. But, there’s also a lot of times where I miss what she said because I’m not paying attention. There are also times when I’m just being \u00a0your average, ordinary listener.<\/p>\n

Confessions: I get grumpy with people. I’ve found myself getting angry with other drivers. I’ve not been nice to a customer service representative. I feel guilty afterwords. I apologize to those I affected (except other drivers because it would be creepy to hunt them down to offer an apology…). Rinse. And repeat.<\/p>\n

Some of my mistakes have been huge and some have been small. Unfortunately, I don’t have a manual to life.<\/a>\u00a0Yes, I read a lot of research on the human condition, but it rarely translates exactly at an individual level. I don’t celebrate my mistakes, but I try to accept them, learn from them, and continue on. Sometimes it gets me down, sometimes it makes me laugh. I do celebrate for the opportunity to be human: to experience the mistakes as well as the successes and live life generally between the two. But more on that later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ok. Let’s set the record straight: I’m not perfect. At times it feels like others hold me to a higher standard because I am a therapist. It’s as if since I am a therapist, I should no longer be subject to weaknesses–that I should know better. Yes, there was a time that I did hold myself to a higher standard Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[50,51,52,21,53,22,32],"coauthors":[15],"class_list":["post-317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-2","tag-dont-give-up","tag-expert","tag-human","tag-humility","tag-mediocrity","tag-self-acceptance","tag-therapy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/failure-by-ilco-small.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=317"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":734,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions\/734"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=317"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}