Tag: Acceptance

A Story About Dealing With Perfectionism and Bad Days

Here’s a great quote for every perfectionist out there:

“Birds don’t just fly, they fall down and get up. Nobody learns without getting it wrong.” (Zootopia song by Shakira)

Let’s stop the fear of failure and accept it as part of the journey, which does not have to be a straight line (or perfect) in order to be amazing!

Quote on Perfectionism - Zootopia Soundtrack Shakira

Let me tell you a story about perfectionism in its purest form…

About 5 months ago, my coach told me to draw a graphic of how my emotions should look like in order for me to be happy and satisfied. How should my life look like? How many ups and how many downs can I accept?

But, as a perfectionist, I was like “what downs??? there’s no such thing in my life! In order for me to be happy, everything has to work out perfectly, there are only ups”.

And guess what I drew?!

A STRAIGHT LINE. (exactly like the one below)

There were no ups, no downs, just pure perfection, without understanding that everywhere in nature there are ups and downs, good times and bad times, positive and negative.

For me, thinking that way was equal to “dreaming big”, to “not limit myself”, but I couldn’t be more wrong.

What does it mean for you to be consistent?

Does it have to happen every day for you to label yourself as being consistent or disciplined?!

What does it mean for you to have a habit? Does it have to be daily?

What if you could be more flexible?!

What if you could accept that being consistent is about doing the same thing (habit or not) over and over again during a long period of time at an interval that YOU decide?!

What if you could accept and label yourself as being consistent by doing one of your habits every two/three days instead of daily?!

What if you could accept that there are times when you feel like doing some habit daily and there are times when you do it only once per week, but if you start in January and you’re still doing the same habit in December (daily or not), you are consistent!

What if you could stop forcing yourself from doing all the things that certain guru’s, authors and thought leaders are telling you that you should do in order to be happy, healthy or successful?!

What if you could start listening to your inner guidance and do what feels right for you?!

 

Can you accept having a bad day?

I’ve come a long way since that story, but it’s funny how I couldn’t accept that I can have a bad day without beating myself up for not being good enough. I couldn’t accept that in life there are ups and downs and it was unrealistic to believe there can be just ups.

I couldn’t accept that it’s okay for me to feel negative emotions without meaning there’s something wrong with me.

I couldn’t accept that it’s okay to feel tired and skip a day at the gym and that is not the worst thing it can happen.

I couldn’t accept that it’s okay to be sad sometimes without meaning that I will become depressed.

I couldn’t accept that it’s okay to be and do less than perfect. 

Believe it or not, but since I’ve started learning how to deal with this perfectionist in me, everything is working better in my life, especially my business which has doubled in the past three months. Try it, there’s nothing to lose!

It’s all about the meaning that we give to the events in our life and I encourage you to take yourself less seriously! Allow yourself to fail and have a bad day because you will see that there can be some pleasure in having a bad day if you LOVE YOURSELF.

6 Life Lessons Learned From Animation Movies

What I love the most about them is that they teach valuable life lessons in such a simple way. Although these motion pictures seem to be only for children, I strongly believe that adults have much more to learn from these “ordinary” movies than kids.

I dare you to take about 90 minutes of your day and watch one of the movies mentioned below – it may be the most well-spent 90 minutes of the month.

 

1. Negative Emotions Are Okay! — Inside Out

There is a big pressure on being happy these days that we almost forgot that fear, sadness and anger are also part of life, part of our human experience. We often tend to forget that each emotion plays an important role in our lives and that neglecting the negative ones it’s not the wisest thing to do because they can bite us at a later time. I believe that instead of talking about happiness, we should better teach people about flexibility, about self-acceptance and self-love.

Check out my interview with David Henzel where we talk about love, acceptance & much more!

Our emotions can guide us and are meant to allow us to experience life at the fullest. The secret lies in learning how to work with our emotions instead of putting all the negative ones in a box that now one should ever see. Experiencing negative emotions does not make you weak, but quite the opposite!

 

2. Stop Judging Everyone! — Home

One of the main lessons that I got from this movie, even though it came right before the end, was to not judge someone until you walk one mile in their shoes. Even though all the Boovs (the little aliens) thought that Gorg was their enemy, the big ugly spaceship was only following them because they had something very precious — the last set of eggs and without them their species would go extinct.

It’s easy to walk down the street and put a label on everyone (I know I used to do it back in the early college days), but it’s better to remember that we are all good at our core, we have good days and bad days and that shouldn’t define us.

 

3. We Are All Equal and Part of the Same Family! — How to Train Your Dragon

We are all living beings and part of the same planet: people, animals, plants, insects and God knows what else. It’s time we start living in more harmony with the world around us.

What I personally like to do is:

  • catch flies carefully so I don’t hurt them and then throw them outside.
  • eliminate ants in a peaceful, natural way even though I am not always successful
  • admire and give thanks for all the beautiful nature I have around me
  • say blessings over the food that I eat
  • save spiders and put them outside nicely
  • watch where I step (when possible) and do my best to save some of the insects that you see

 

4. Revenge is Never a Good Option! — Big Hero 6

Revenge is never a good option and it will, most likely, make you feel worse than before. Let karma do the work for you. All you have to do is to free yourself by trying to forgive the person and let God/Universe decide if and how to punish him/her.

Check out my list of recommended books for entrepreneurs (mindset & business wise)!

Sometimes, grief can make us blind, but that’s why we have friends that can help us see what’s right from wrong and help us make better decisions. You don’t have to do everything alone, you don’t need to have all the answers. It’s okay to be helped, that’s what strong people do — they ask for help when they need it and accept that. It’s time we move away from the myth that a strong person has to be strong all the time. We are all human beings, we make mistakes, we have good days and bad days, and sometimes, we just need a little push and that’s fine!

 

5. Learn to Accept Yourself — Wreck-It Ralph

Ralph says something very wise and it kinda summarizes the whole lesson in one single quote:

“I am bad and that’s good, I will never be good and that’s not bad, there’s no one I’d rather be than me.”

Learning to better accept and love yourself should be always at the top of your mind because that’s what brings you peace of mind, joy, compassion and love for other people. Accepting yourself is an act of consciously acknowledging what you are today, good or bad, with an intention to always strive to improve yourself.

Once we stop resisting things, we grow and everything becomes easier.

 

6. You Don’t Have to Look Like a Hero! — Kung-Fu Panda

Yes, you don’t have to look like a hero to become one. You don’t have to do all the things successful people do to become one. Find your own journey and rewrite the rules if you have to.

Like there’s no diet to fit all human beings, there’s no road to success to fit us all either. Of course, there are some important ingredients you have to keep in mind, but you can mix and match everything else according to your intuition. Always trust your intuition!

 

Conclusion

Even though they seem to be movies for children, I believe these are the real movies that we should all watch again and again until we learn these lessons (and many more).

Action movies, dramas and thrillers are great, but most of the times they teach us quite the opposite and can create all kinds of fears and negative beliefs. Action movies teach us that revenge is acceptable, dramas teach us to always be on the lookout for something bad to happen — it can’t be good for too long, and don’t even get me started on horror movies which I personally believe should be banned.

Let me know your favorite animation movie in a comment below!