Perfect Protest - Part 2

I've mentioned before that I had planned a "part two" to the Perfect Protest post. In fact I've planned it since that post aired two weeks ago on October 6th.  But here's the thing about being willing to admit you are not perfect. You get plenty of opportunities to prove it!  Way too many I think.

I'll start with saying, I haven't done a good job of keeping up with my blog. LIFE has to be lived before one can blog about it and I feel like I've been living a LOT of life lately. 

Sarah was home from college for Fall Break and we were scheduled to spend Saturday together at a crop. Signed up and paid for. After the hour driving there, but before I was even fully set up, she got sick. We had to pack back up and come home. I did laundry and "tried" to scrap a bit at home.  She spent the rest of Saturday in bed, poor thing. 

Sunday I went grocery shopping, then Rachel and Becca had a soccer game. Jay played with our zoom lens.


The ball coming off Becca's foot. Good kick! And yes, Santa
moonlights as a sideline referee.



Becca goes down hard. The girl behind her got yellow-carded (warning
before you get expelled from the game) for this move. The ref said:
 "you just ran her over" - he clearly saw a personal foul. My girl was
crying but she got back up and kept playing anyway.



I just love this photo of Rachel. Good stop-action - the only way you can
tell she is on the move is the pony tail flying behind her!



Two hours in the sunshine watching them play always exhausts me.  So instead of doing anything "productive" we watched the remake of "Karate Kid" with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith.  Suprisingly GOOD movie! And interesting to listen to some of the life lessons you have been learning played out in a movie.  Probably why I so thoroughly enjoyed "Avatar" when it came out.

Tuesday I took Sarah back to college. Six hours round trip. It was a beautiful drive with lots of gorgeous fall color, but no safe place to pull over for photos.  So we'll make do with this one taken near home:

It was also a long drive. Once I got home I only made it off the sofa to go to bed! 

Yesterday I had Physical Therapy, went to the gym, did a quick grocery run, took Rachel & Becca to the dr., made dinner, sewed two moles (a project R & B need for school - I did make them cut the pattern.), and started this blog post.

Today, I need to pack. I'm leaving this morning for a business trip to Chicago, back very very late Friday night. 

So just keeping up with LIFE is exhausting me. I'm woefully behind on Picture Fall and have lost the mojo. I'm not keeping up with Unravelling II either. And new classes are due to start soon.  Yikes.  And I have oodles of partially started projects laying around that need my attention. So in case you are wondering what is the point, let me spell it out. I'm not wonder woman and I can't do it all. There, I said it. Out loud. I'm not perfect. In fact, I'm very far from it.

When I first posted about accepting myself with my imperfections... in fact, embracing my imperfections as part of who I am and acknowledging that I AM ENOUGH... I was a little concerned.  Because honestly, at first blush it sounds like, well, a cop out. Like I am giving up on me. Accepting that this is as good as it gets.

But, Brene Brown says:

"Perfectionism is not the same thing as striving to be your best. Perfectionism is not about healthy achievement and growth....Perfectionism is, at its core, about trying to earn approval and acceptance." 

This is the big lesson in Guidepost #2 in the Gifts of Imperfection. 

During my second read of this amazing book, I learned that accepting that I am worthy of love and belonging JUST AS I AM does not mean I have given up on anything.  I can still strive to become the best version of me, to be even better tomorrow than I am today, without letting go of the fact that I am enough today - whether I  manage to improve or not. It is a bit of a circular argument. But there you have it - you can accept and embrace your imperfection and still strive to be your best. 

So when I get back and life has settled a bit, I'll tell you about my newest goals in striving to be my best! Have you embraced your imperfections today? And how are you getting around that to be your best?