The Red Spot Slide

Hey everyone, Doctor Carey here on Cadre. So I woke up a week ago with this red spot in my eye. I'll show it to you. It's not very big, but we're on day eight now of the red spot, not that I'm counting, but honestly, this red spot in my eye has caused kind of a slippery downslide for my mental state. And I know that sounds a little crazy, so let me explain. I woke up with it just out of the blue, have no idea what it is. I am a healthcare professional so I'm assuming I'm not dying, but, you know, I googled it anyways.

But still, it's nothing big, nothing I need medical attention for. And it's just been kind of annoying. And I realized that a lot of my profession involves me being in front of people. Like even in my volunteer positions, right? Like praying for people really close up and speaking, doing videos like this and taking pictures of myself. And it's been really kind of a damper on my mental state because I don't like the way I look with this red spot in my eye. And, you know, there are times where I definitely don't want to be in front of a camera, sometimes more than others if I've got more acne going on.

But this thing, like literally I can't cover it up with anything. No makeup, no nothing. We'll cover this thing up. And so I've started sliding back into my issue with perfectionism over the past eight days because I'm thinking, oh, I could record a video, I could do something, I could get up in front of people, but I don't like the way my eye looks, so I'm not going to do it. And I started just slipping into that performance mindset of like, if I'm going to do something, it needs to be perfect and I'm going to wait until my eye is cleared up to do anything.

And honestly, when I struggle with the issue of things feeling like a little bit out of control in my life, which obviously I have no control over this thing in my eye, that is when perfectionism slips in for me because that's how I try to control things. And so instead of trying to control this spot in my eye, I've tried to control other things in my life, trying to control relationships, trying to control my schedule, and then feeling like I'm not doing anything in full excellence because it's not perfect enough.

And then actually when it gets to that point, that's when I really start to slide because I'm tired. It's emotionally exhausting to try to do everything perfect all the time. And for me, that looks like, oh, my gosh. Okay, now I'm really tired. I'm gonna take a power nap before I have my next scheduled call. Ten minutes. Great. Set an alarm. Did that yesterday. The alarm didn't go off. I slept 17 minutes and I was late for my call, which for me is a big deal because I like to be in integrity and excellence and do things on time.

But that's what happens to me when I start letting in that performance and perfectionism, because I then start to slip in every area because I'm trying to control it and I can't. Because ultimately, you can't control anything in life, especially when you wake up with a red spot in your eye. So I had to remind myself of the lesson I've learned multiple times, which is done beats perfect. So just get something done. It doesn't have to be perfect because literally, there's no such thing as perfectionism.

There's no perfect. There's always somebody better at something than you. You can always do a better job at something as well. So there's no such thing as perfectionism. And I had to remind myself of that lesson. And I even have this quote written on my fridge, done beats perfect. To just say, just get something done, just start somewhere and drop the perfectionism and just surrender the control. So that's what I've had to do, and I had to learn this lesson again. This is something I've struggled with my entire life, and I don't know if it's something you struggle with, but it definitely was another good lesson for me.

And now I'm actually a little bit thankful for the red spot in my eye because I needed to learn this lesson to bring the joy back into my daily life and not waking up anxious and trying to control everything. And hence, I am on a recording right now with this red spot still in my eye, and I have no idea how many more days it's going to be here, but I am grateful for it. I can't believe I'm saying that, because I have learned another very important lesson that I needed to learn, and I'll probably have to learn this lesson again.

So I'm going to keep that quote on my fridge that says, done, beats perfect. So I don't know if that resonates with you, but just start somewhere and drop the perfectionism. Because knowing that, like, you could too wake up with a red spot in your eye tomorrow. Hopefully not praying you don't but I'm hoping that if you do end up with these little imperfections in your life, that it can just humble you and remind you that there's no such thing as perfectionism. Thanks for joining in with me today, guys.

God bless.