Perfectionism and its impacts: don’t waste your brain
Subject
Abstract
This paper takes an autoethnographic approach to reflect on the experiences, expectations, and growth of growing up a perfectionist. The stories shared highlight my experiences and share my reflections about how I have come to terms with my personal expectations and the reality of what I experienced and continue to experience in my educational journey and my life beyond education. This research has found the connecting thread of my struggles and truths, and the circumstances in which my life has been impacted by my perfectionism. No one person lives in a vacuum, and as such the scenarios shared in this paper are written from my personal point-of-view, focusing on my internal understanding and experience. Analyzing my experiences with perfectionism and the impacts it has had on my life broadens the understanding of, and research capabilities in the future, the impacts of perfectionism. With this thesis I hope to bring awareness to the comorbidities of perfectionism and encourage others to understand the impact their words have on children.