Excellence or unhealthy perfectionism? (2)


In this second article John Wyatt reflects on 'How to be a recovering perfectionist' 

An extract..

'The first and perhaps the hardest lesson to learn is that there is no quick fix for unhealthy perfectionism. These traits of thought and behaviour have very deep roots and they become hard-wired in our personalities. The process of change may be slow and uneven. But change is possible. We can gradually become transformed by grace and learn new habits of thought and action. We can learn to put aside maladaptive thought patterns and grow in emotional maturity. We will never lose our longings for excellence (indeed as we saw before this is part of our God-likeness and has many positive aspects), but we can learn to redirect these longings into healthier patterns.'

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