The silver Tylenol award

I’ve been thinking a lot about perfectionism lately. It’s come up as a topic in numerous conversations, and there’s a chapter on perfectionism in my upcoming book The Year Of Miraculous Living.

Today a memory popped up that had me laughing at my own perfectionist streak.

Image found here.

By the time I was in fifth grade, I was a full-blown perfectionist. At the end of that school year, my teacher Mr. Tuttle gave out funny awards to each of us.  He gave me the “Silver Tylenol Award” because I stressed out so much about doing well. And you know what my first thought was?

“Why didn’t I get the GOLD Tylenol Award?  Who beat me for that?”

Even in stressing out I wanted to be the best!!!!

Crazy or not, here I come!  🙂

So here I am, 28 years later, still working with my perfectionism.  At least I see it more clearly these days. And I can laugh at it.  That’s certainly a miracle!

I still have that award somewhere. It’s in a box of my special things.  Because even though it bothered me that I didn’t get the Gold, it also made me feel good to know that my teacher really saw me – warts and all.

Want to read a chapter from my upcoming book “The Year Of Miraculous Living”? Click here to download a 10-page excerpt on perfectionism from my “Free Stuff” page! Every entry includes an exercise for you to bring the lessons into your own life.