I recently celebrated my 56th birthday, in Marfa TX, and it was perfect.
Marfa is my favorite place to be, so that was one perfect box checked. I was solo, which I must admit is something a treasure. The weather was amazing, I signed up for a noon yoga class at Big Sky Yoga, then I walked to the Sentinel (the best coffee shop in the world) to get an iced oat matcha, I got my favorite vegan sandwich at Bordo (the best sandwich in the world, not lying) using a gift card my friend Kelly, who’s house I’m in, left for me when I arrived, then had a super affirming and profound tarot reading with Alexis at Ocotillo Botanica one of my fave magic shops.
Later I took a nap which is unheard of, woke up and cooked dinner using local pink oyster mushrooms that I bought at The Get Go then popped over to Planet Marfa because randomly my friends band the Born Twins were playing there. A perfect birthday.
I didn’t even mention the solo dance party to Proud Mary (the Tina Turner version), morning tea on the porch watching the sun rise, and the overall sense of freedom I get just being out here in the desert. I just feel good here. No, I feel amazing here.
I remember someone in my past having umbrage with the word perfect - their sentiment being that it set one up too much for failure, or an unobtainable desire. A false sense of what the perfect world looks like, so therefore constant disappointment. I get that, really, I do, we’ve all heard people say quotes like “progress not perfection” or “better done than none”, and perfectionism as a negative personality trait.
Hear me out - my thoughts are that this angle of looking at perfection is based on societal and big media definitions, images and marketing, and yes, with all that in mind, striving for perfection is futile, self-esteem destroying and painful.
So, for me the joy and the insight here is in knowing and feeling what is perfect for YOU, and then even further, being open to that being an evolving ever changing thing, so that you are not in fact ever reaching a place of ultimate perfection and being ok with that. So in actuality - perfection is in every moment - in some way - at all times. Even when it doesn’t feel like it