Stephanie Heidel, owner of Foundation Mindset, is an author and educator with a passion for mental health and holistic wellness.

My therapist gave me some pretty solid advice last week. She said you know the Bible says, “well done, good and faithful servant.” As she says this, I am thinking “duh, why do you think I am beating myself up so badly to do things right?” Then she follows up with, “it doesn’t say “Perfectly done.” Mic drop. She tends to do that.

Hello, my name is Stephanie Heidel and I am a Recovering Perfectionist. I have thrown many babies right out of the window with the bath water. If I couldn’t do it perfectly, I would rather not attempt it at all. Spoiler alert: I (or you) will never be able to achieve perfection. This toxic trait also made me a hypocrite. When I was a 5th grade teacher, I constantly encouraged my students to take on a growth mindset. I told them they could do hard things. I was even the crazy lady that did not get hung up on grades. Instead, I wanted them to see personal growth. I put smiley faces on D papers with notes about the things they had down pat. A constant positive presence for my students when inside I would literally die if I ever scored below a “Highly Effective” rating on a teacher evaluation.

I haven’t perfected my life of not being perfect yet (yes, I see what I did there.) I will likely always be a RP (Recovering Perfectionist), but I am no longer letting it stop me from trying scary things that could end badly.

Foundation Mindset will hold our first retreat this January and there will be mistakes. Guess what? I cannot wait to see what crazy things might occur. I am ok with it. I was blessed to be able to attend a glamping retreat in Tennessee in September and it was amazing. I told the facilitators that they put on a wonderful experience, even though… wait for it… things did not go perfectly! There were hiccups and the world did not actually come to an end. They did not say, “sorry folks, you will have to go home because this is not yet perfect.”

If you are a member of the RP Club, welcome. I am glad you are here. And I love your beautiful mess. If you are still striving for perfection, join the Club and work toward being ok with your messes. Come on in, the dirty water is fine! And the baby can stay!