Progress is messy.

Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes progress.

Seems obvious I know.

But deep down, so many women I know are still hoping that perfect exists. If they just try hard enough. Or if they were just trying harder. 

And perfection is the goal because then (and only then), they can finally relax.

They can finally feel worthy. Loved. Happy. Fulfilled. Successful. 

But perfect doesn’t exist. And so for perfectionists, perfect is amorphous. Always out of reach. Shapeshifting as you move towards it. 

You don’t quite know what it is. You just know it isn’t what you are or what you are doing.

So your brain will always tell you that you can do more, be more, do something differently, be different.

You will never achieve perfection because your brain will always keep moving the goal post.

And it feels terrible to be constantly waiting for some time in the future, some different version of you, before you can be happy.

Progress - something that will actually move you towards more of the life you want - requires the opposite of perfection.

Progress is messy.

Progress requires that you get comfortable with failing.

Over and over again.

Progress requires you to learn something from each failure.

And keep taking action over and over again to move yourself forward.

The thing that feels better is progress.

Progress is what you actually want.

Not perfection.

Progress in loving yourself and others more fully. Progress in trusting yourself. Progress in knowing and doing what you want, rather than what you should.

And that takes some practice.