Perfect is Overrated

I struggle with wanting things to be perfect.

My house.  My plans.  My kids.  My husband.  My day. 

You get the point.

I like things a certain way and there's definitely a right way to do things in my mind.

Over the years I've come to realize that this fact about me makes me hard to live with.

I'm guilty of being overly critical and rigid with my expectations.

This is something I've been working on and practicing every day for the past few years. 

Really ever since I had kids I have had to learn to adjust my expectations because being perfect is overrated.

I have made lots of little adjustments (mostly internal) to alter my expectations and make them more doable.  I ask for help.  I accept help when it's offered.  I say it's good enough.  My house is still tidy most of the time.  My kids help clean up.  My husband helps with chores, but I'm no longer the quality control police making sure that everything is done perfect.

Here are some little ways that I've let go around the house.  I've compromised my standards in a good way.  Perfection is unrealistic and I'm really working hard to be thankful for the help/content with my surroundings.  I went around the house this past weekend and snapped some pictures for you.

Olive set the table for us for dinner!  She was so proud and I was really proud of her.  It looks different than how I would have set it, but who cares?!?  I also ignored the mess of snow balls, tennis gear and backpacks to make dinner.  Feeding my family was more important than tidying up at the moment.

Olive was been wiping off the counters.  She asks for a little help, but I appreciate her taking this job on after a meal.

My kitchen towel drawer currently looks like this.  Both my husband and my 5 year old fold kitchen towels differently than I do.  But, I'm focusing on the fact that they're clean, folded and I didn't have to do that job instead of a perfectly neat drawer.  I know my daughter will learn to fold neater as she gets older and I know my husband's way of folding works just fine.

Kevin's been doing the dishes.  That means that I don't have to do them - hooray!  I'm ignoring the fact that I load it differently than he does and just being thankful for the team work.

Again, bed made - hooray!  Not how I would have stacked the pillows, but it's done.  I've also been practicing giving praise for jobs even when they're not done the same way that I would do them.  This means thanking my husband in person or texting him and not saying a peep about his pillow arrangement haha!  He always appreciates the words of affirmation and praise.

Olive has been asking for more jobs, more responsibilities and more things to help out with around the house.  Kevin and I worked on a little chore chart for her of extra things she could do to earn a little allowance each week.  There are plenty of things she's responsible for every day.  This list is just things that she can do to go above and beyond if she wants.  I don't bug her about this list.  She takes care of these tasks independently and I check in with her on Sundays.  She adds check marks with a dry erase marker all week and then we erase them all at the end of the week.

So I'm curious to know - am I alone in liking things to be perfect??  Is this something that you have to work on, too?  Or is your spouse this way?