Thoughts from a recovering perfectionist: mistakes

The music lesson is one of the prime places to make the mistake.

Why?

If we don’t hear/witness/become aware of a problem, we can’t diagnose, collaborate, and find solutions that work for you.

Mistakes are good - it means we can find the cause, fix the thing, and strengthen the weaker spots. And the music lesson should be the safe space to do that in.

Making a mistake, just like all the right notes, just is - it is neutral. It is a thing that happens, that we have to deal with as they come up - they are not a poor reflection on ourselves, they just show what we need to strengthen more.

Making a mistake is 100% better than not trying at all.

If you find perfectionism creeping up in your practice, I challenge you to embrace mistakes that may happen - try to think about them without judgement. Greet it, say hello, identify it, work with it, let it go.

As a recovering perfectionist, I wish I could impart this sentiment on myself from a decade ago (and have past-me believe it), but I hope some of this helps someone in some way.

Be brave.

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