Detriments of Perfectionism

I ran across an interesting post on Health for the Whole Self that examined the connection between perfectionism and binge eating. I have seen myself cycle through all-or-nothing failures in eating habits, exercising habits, maintaining household chores, the list could go on and on to incorporate every aspect of my life. This post is not meant to serve as a cop out or an excuse for these behaviors in the past. I am examining how this behavior has been ever present in my life, and now day by day I am going to work on limiting my all-or-nothing thinking. This is going to be a big change so I am starting with small goals for myself.

1. If I have a bad night at work and don't get to eat every 3-4 hours and drink as much water as I should, I will NOT come home and eat everything in sight because I am starving and "I haven't eaten all night." I WILL make a healthy meal and give my body some good fuel since I had put it through stress all night.
2. If I don't complete everything I set out to at work, I will let it go. I will NOT bring feelings of disappointment and frustration from work into the house.
3. I will STOP telling myself that a clean house must be cleaned from top to bottom (baseboards, windows, in drawers, under the bed) and feeling like a failure when I can only do so much. It is OK to tidy up. I will NOT get bogged down in cleaning the nooks and crannies when there is big stuff left to do (laundry, dishes, vacuum).

3 is plenty for now, I don't want to set myself up for failure. So....working on 1 and 2 tonight.