by masquerade » Wed Dec 14, 2011 10:23 pm
Yes, you're right. People expect perfection from themselves and perfection from others, and no one can live up to these ideals, so they're immediately setting themselves up for failure. My therapist taught me that being simply "good enough" is something positive to aspire to. If we all had unconditional love as children, with nothing being imposed upon us to "earn" that love, then there would be fewer dysfunctional relationships, fewer personality disorders, and fewer co dependents. We all owe it to ourselves to learn to love ourselves in a healthy manner, just as we are, and by learning to do that, we can then learn to love others in positive ways, imperfections and all. That isn't to say that we should accept bad treatment, but with a healthy self love, we can all learn to place appropriate boundaries, and also to monitor our own behaviour.