I mentioned last
week that it was my son's 10th birthday, and he decorated his own birthday cake.
Apparently, it's our tradition now. He's insisted on doing his own cakes since his 6th birthday. (That's a picture of
him decorating his 7th birthday cake.)
On the one hand, it was hard for this recovering control freak/perfectionist/over-the-top party planner - and EX-professional cake decorator - to let go enough
to let him do it. On the other hand, I recognized two very important facts:
1) It meant a LOT to him to decorate his own cake; and
2) The only way for him to get good at something was to be BAD at it first.
And, truthfully, he wasn't all that bad. He was mostly just different. Sure, the icing wasn't as smooth as I'd get it. The decorations weren't as sharp as I'd do them. His Minecraft Creeper had ponytails and ears and horns and all kinds of squiggly-ness going on.
But he LOVED it. And he did a really good job.
The look of pure joy on my son's face
- and the pride of accomplishment - was priceless. He wasn't concerned that he didn't hold he decorating bag perfectly or that his Creeper face was bumpy. He experienced pure joy in the creative process. And his confidence grew as a result.
Do you have the courage to be bad at something?
Or does perfectionism stop you?
Does your inner critic scream so loudly that you give up and stop trying?
If you want to be more confident, sometimes it helps to think like a 7-year-old. Try something new. Just go for it.
Don't beat yourself up with perfectionism.
Be willing to be bad at something until you get better at it.
Enjoy the process and celebrate your accomplishment, no matter how imperfect it might be.
