Embracing My Inner Space Cadet

I don’t follow a lot of people on TikTok, but Erin Azar, aka Mrs. Space Cadet, is one of them. She’s funny, authentic, a self-described “struggle runner” and I often wonder if we are separated at birth due to our shared tendencies to be randomly chaotic. If any of this interests you, I highly recommend checking out her story, especially in the context of this week’s discussion. In it, she talks about how she was always a person who quit a task before she started because she was convinced she wouldn’t be any good. Sound familiar? 

Recently, she’s started a series about getting comfortable with discomfort she’s calling “The Uncomfy Challenge.” What I love (and identify with) about this is that she has zero preconceptions of being a superstar at the challenges she is setting out to try. But she’s trying them anyway! She’s a beginner at what she is trying, and that’s the point. Even if it’s not an easy point. 

I have also struggled with the need to perfect a plan before I attempt it. And what happens every time? I get lost in perfecting the plan and wind up being my own biggest barrier. And I’m not even talking barrier to success, I’m talking barrier to just DOING. My practice in response to this? Shifting my mindset from perfectionist thinking to beginner thinking, i.e., “Let’s just try this and see what happens,” otherwise known as imperfect action. And we might be talking really imperfect – but perfection is no longer the point. The imperfection of my process is actually going to help me learn more about not only the process (since I am intentionally inviting the idea of freedom to fail and start over) but also about myself! 

By taking imperfect steps forward you also can learn to trust your abilities. As a result, your confidence will increase and those voices in your head telling that you can’t do anything right will fade into the distance. 

Try it! Take an imperfect action. It will be uncomfortable and messy and that’s okay. And who wants to hang out with someone who is perfect all the time anyway? Not me.