A note on Reformed Perfectionism & unrealistic goals

It's kind of amazing what happens when you stop planning things and let life happen.

As a Reformed Perfectionist, planning for the far future is something I am highly familiar with. I used to make lists of Where I Will Be In 6 Months, 1 year, 5 years, etc. Which isn't a bad thing at all, but when you have highly time consuming things on that list and like to sleep until noon everyday.......well, it's a little unrealistic.

Have you seen P.S. I Love You? Holly is a Planner and when her husband dies, her plan for life -- not surprisingly -- goes down the toilet.

I thought this more than a few times while I was dating Riley.

So of course, she's worried about what she's going to do. "I don't have a plan, Gerry." His response (post mortem): "That's okay baby, your plans don't ever  work out anyway"

The Gerard Butler man is right. You can't really plan out life. You can follow a plan, say, to get out of debt, lose weight, eat healthier, learn a new language, save for X, Y, or Z, etc etc.

But here's a Perfectionist Problem: we tend to get so much emotional momentum from working on achieving one goal, we begin to take on the next on the list before we're ready. And then when that great thing called Life gets in the way, we freak out because it's not Part of the Plan.

So, a couple weeks ago I decided that while I am working on getting out of debt, training for a 5k/exercising regularly, and reviewing the multiple languages I am acquainted with, I have held off on obtaining furniture (as announced here). It's too much pressure, and I can devote my attention, focus, and energy to a few specific things, get a routine going on them and THEN I can add new goals to achieve.

And call it what you want, but Something (charity, luck, God, the Universe), smiled down on me and I now have a THIRD piece of furniture to call my own -- a wonderful chair my friend Bryn wanted to get rid of.

How's that for awesome? It may be just one chair, but considering my living room only had two storage trunks and a bookshelf before today, it's a big deal to be able to read or eat somewhere other than my bed or the floor.

As for running, I ran 2.5 miles while doing 5:1 intervals today (meaning I ran for 5 minutes straight, took a 1 min walking break, and then repeated until I had reached 2.5 mile distance).

It was the longest I had ran non-stop so far and it surprised me that I could do it. I was breathing hard and I was so warm, I took my headband and mittens off, but I wasn't uncomfortable like on some of my runs. Every time I run, I surprise myself with my capabilities.

Bring on Jingle Bell.

P.S. If you can, please donate to our team. Even a dollar helps. If you're in the Spokane area, come cheer us on. The race is 16 November at Riverfront Park. Race info here.