Perfectionist!
From Expanding Your Horizons
My name is Robin. Basically, I'm a GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) student who plays the flute in Honor Band (and although I'm sometimes called a show-off, they're just jealous ;) If you don't show it, you might not realize that you know it!). Along with being good at academic stuff like that, I do have a life outside of school. My friends know me as a kind, funny, dependable,and wacky girl! I love reading, writing, music, ice skating, and hanging out with my friends. But I'm not just typing this wiki about myself-I am also a perfectionist, and if you are overwhelmed about being perfect, this is the place for you! So if any other perfectionists want to give tips and life stories too, then you guys are welcome to add stuff underneath mine, but please don't edit other people's stuff unless it's a misspelling or something.
You know how it is, being a perfectionist: you always pressure yourself to be perfect, and get disappointed if you aren't. I have been a perfectionist for ages. When I was in kindergarten, my elementary school would "bench" you, or confine you to a bench for some amount of time if you misbehaved or didn't follow the rules. I don't really know what I did wrong, but I think it was a misunderstanding and I wasn't really part of it. But whatever happened, I was benched for the remaining five minutes of recess, and after school, I broke down and told my mom about what happened through sobs and tears trickling down my face. In first grade, I started karate with a friend, but I eventually dropped out. My mom says I was being too hard on myself, and I was taking it all too seriously. I guess she was right-I cried if I couldn't get a kick or a punch right! In fourth grade, we had a "money" system, where you would get money if you did something good like completeing your homework and you lost money for things you did bad, like forgetting your name on a paper. I lost $1 from forgetting my name on a paper, and blinked back tears as I turned away. Fifth grade brought letter grades. I mostly achieved A+'s and As, but even A's were still not enough, and a B+ was just too hard for me to handle: even though I only got one, and that was the worst grade I got that year. I'm in 6th grade, and earlier in the year, I got a B+ and cried over it. The funny thing is, my life is pretty good: I have all the neccesities of life and lots more!. I get good grades, my family is together, and I live in a safe community. So why did I always want to be perfect?
Then came the turning point in my perfectionist life. I love to write, and when my teacher reccomended me for a writing contest, I was excited. But I had writer's block. Finally, after about a month, I had an idea: I would write a story, called "The Spice of Conflict," about a perfectionist who gets a chance to live in a "perfect world," away from her B+'s, her mean teachers, and her family problems. She has a bad day (Everyone has their days), and as she cries, alone in her room, a benevolent alien brings her to his perfect world. She relives that day through a hologram, and at first, she loves everything perfect. But near the end of the "day," she begins to feel that something is wrong. There was no conflict, no challenges, no obstacles to overcome. So in the end, she decides to go back to her old life, and she sees everything in a different life. At the end of the story, she is content, and decides that "life just isn't life without the spice of conflict." This story didn't just help the girl in the story: it helped me to come to terms with my perfectionist life. Now, I have gotten 3 more B+'s, but it doesn't matter as much anymore. If you are struggling with trying to be perfect, just remember, life just isn't life without the spice of conflict!
P.S. I will attach my story later, since it's not on this computer.
