Hello, my name is Cheryl...and I am a (recovering) perfectionist. You know the type - if things don't go as planned, then obviously I did something wrong, I was stupid, didn't prepare enough, etc. For years, I kept getting degrees in the effort to get the "perfect" job (for me) and then endured endless self-loathing when things didn't turn out. So you can imagine my anxiety when I arrived at my home stay family in Costa Rica and found out they did not speak English. I realized I would have to pull out my high school Spanish if I was going to communicate with my lovely new family for the next four weeks.
But wait, oh no, what was I going to do? My Spanish is not very good and I knew I was going to look like an idiot. Ok, three choices: 1) Stop talking for the next month (not very likely, as anyone who knows me will tell you). 2) Use hand gestures to try to get my point across (could get exhausting after a while). 3) Give Spanish my best shot and not care what anyone thought. Given my limited options, I have decided to go with #3. So as I was walking with one of my hosts today (he was showing me where the school was located), I began answering and asking questions in Spanish. And guess what? I started to remember more than I thought I would. Now don't get me wrong, my pronunciation sucks, I don't remember how to conjugate all my verbs, and sometimes an important words or phrase eludes me and I have to resort to talking with my hands. But I was communicating in another language, and that felt awesome! I was even able to understand my host when he said that my Spanish was good, and the key was not to worry about pronunciation, but just keep speaking (at least that's what I think he said, lol).
Bottom line, if you are nervous about something, and think you have to be perfect before you try, then please tell that little obnoxious voice in your head (the one that insists on perfection) to please be quiet. And then go out and do that thing that makes you nervous. You just might be surprised at how good you really are, and more important, how much fun you can have when you try something that freaks you out.
But wait, oh no, what was I going to do? My Spanish is not very good and I knew I was going to look like an idiot. Ok, three choices: 1) Stop talking for the next month (not very likely, as anyone who knows me will tell you). 2) Use hand gestures to try to get my point across (could get exhausting after a while). 3) Give Spanish my best shot and not care what anyone thought. Given my limited options, I have decided to go with #3. So as I was walking with one of my hosts today (he was showing me where the school was located), I began answering and asking questions in Spanish. And guess what? I started to remember more than I thought I would. Now don't get me wrong, my pronunciation sucks, I don't remember how to conjugate all my verbs, and sometimes an important words or phrase eludes me and I have to resort to talking with my hands. But I was communicating in another language, and that felt awesome! I was even able to understand my host when he said that my Spanish was good, and the key was not to worry about pronunciation, but just keep speaking (at least that's what I think he said, lol).
Bottom line, if you are nervous about something, and think you have to be perfect before you try, then please tell that little obnoxious voice in your head (the one that insists on perfection) to please be quiet. And then go out and do that thing that makes you nervous. You just might be surprised at how good you really are, and more important, how much fun you can have when you try something that freaks you out.