Some former drug and alcohol abusers have adopted the motto “Progress, not perfection.” This phrase reminds me of one of my favorite quotations, “Perfect is the enemy of good,” a quotation by the writer and philosopher Voltaire.
These expressions are good reminders to count our blessings. So many times, we want things to be a certain way, or we work to have things occur in a certain way. Sometimes, unfortunately, those things just don’t happen. When things don’t occur how we expected or wanted them to occur, we often become upset or depressed. We might beat ourselves up, abuse alcohol or drugs, or do other things to try to make ourselves feel better.
But doing those things just makes us feel worse. Instead of addressing our expectations, we might go back to wanting and doing the same things as before. If these things don’t work out, we’re disappointed again, causing the same negative feelings, substance use disorder, or other reactions.
To prevent this cycle, maybe we should examine what we’re doing a little more while we’re doing it, instead of solely focusing on the end result. We should take pride in our progress. This could give us the confidence to keep on progressing. Even if things don’t occur according to our plans, we’d be able to realize that we accomplished something, that we learned something, and that we’re growing.
It’s impossible to be perfect. So many of us have suffered trying to achieve perfection. We have to remember that although failure is painful, it’s a part of life. An inevitable part of life. Just because we fail at things doesn’t make us failures. We fail when we stop trying. We succeed by continuing to try and by living life. Besides, perfection is kind of boring, isn’t it?
