Learning to Live a Perfectly Imperfect Life.

The first house we owned was a 1950’s three-bedroom, one-bath, nine hundred square foot home that needed some love. And we loved that home for almost ten years. During the time we lived in that house, we replaced siding and windows, cemented a gravel driveway, and rebuilt the bathroom from the studs up. We did so much work, yet we never touched the ugly 1970s yellow kitchen until right before putting the house on the market.

We had dreams of what the perfect kitchen would look like in that house, but sadly, that ideal kitchen never became part of that home. Our vision of closing off one entrance, opening up another, and replacing cabinets required time and money that kept us hesitant to begin.

The perfect kitchen never arrived. Yet right before we put the house on the market, a perfectly imperfect kitchen showed up. With a small financial investment and a week’s worth of labor, we replaced lighting, tore out the ugly wallpaper and painted, freshened up the cabinets, updated the flooring, and put in a new white stove to replace the ugly yellow one we had lived with for so many years. It wasn’t our dream kitchen, but it looked so much better, and I cried.

OK, I don’t remember if there were actual tears, but I vividly remember the feeling of disappointment. I had lived with an ugly kitchen I hated for almost ten years because I was waiting for the perfect time to build my ideal kitchen. Instead, I could have been living with this perfectly imperfect but much nicer kitchen.

We do that so often, don’t we? Create a vision for the perfect workout schedule, the perfect job, or the perfect vacation. Then when the reality of what is required to achieve that perfect scenario hits, we become overwhelmed and procrastinate. Perhaps we fear things not turning out as we envision. Or, our resources of time and money don’t accommodate our expectations, so we do nothing at all. Because we can’t have our dream kitchen, we live with our ugly kitchens instead of a much nicer but perhaps perfectly imperfect one.

Our oldest is now in high school, which means our school year and summer routines constantly need adjustment. His school days begin earlier, and summers include early morning conditioning. As a morning person, the early hour is not an issue, yet I have struggled all year with the interruption to my perfect morning routines. My ideal morning routine that allowed quiet reflection, time to write, and pilates was constantly interrupted by other early morning activities in the house. And because I was unable to achieve my perfect morning routine, I found myself doing nothing at all. Holding on to the vision of the perfect morning routine left me frustrated, and I noticed I wasn’t my best without some of these morning practices. It seemed my inability to achieve perfection was causing me to miss out.

That is until memories of that kitchen in our first home reminded me perfect isn’t always worth waiting for, so I asked instead what it might look like to have a perfectly imperfect morning routine?

To be completely honest, my perfectly imperfect morning routine is still a work in progress. While I finished out the school year with a modified version of my ideal, summer has thrown us back into figuring out what will work. But I am determined to embrace the perfectly imperfect.

I could fill pages with stories of missed opportunities and things not done because I held onto a vision of perfection. Over and over again, I find myself opting to live with that ugly yellow kitchen (metaphorically speaking) instead of enjoying the beauty of a perfectly imperfect one.

To clarify, when I use the phrase perfectly imperfect, I am not suggesting we settle or do poor quality work. My reference to perfectly imperfect is not a lowering of standards but a consideration of adjustment to expectations. An adjustment that keeps us moving forward working with what is, instead of being stuck because we’re so focused on the perfect scenario.

It might not be a kitchen in need of some love or a perfect morning routine thrown into chaos by your kids’ schedules, but, like me, you might find your perfect vision stealing the beauty of your ordinary everyday life.

Life is not perfect, we are not perfect, yet somehow we get stuck on this treadmill, constantly running but going nowhere. Might we consider how we can stop the treadmill of perfection and procrastination to embrace the perfectly imperfect of life?

Remember embracing perfectly imperfect is not settling or giving up. That is unless we are giving up on what is keeping us from living well, and embracing the limitations of what we can do instead of waiting for perfect circumstances.

Embracing Perfectly Imperfect is asking if there is something you are missing out on because you’re waiting for the perfect circumstances?

Embracing Perfectly Imperfect is asking what small step you can take to move forward, even if it is a perfectly imperfect step?


As an avid planner, organizer, and labeler of all the things, as someone who thrives in structure and often finds my need for things to be “just so” causing me to miss out on the beauty of what is, I am passionate about learning how to live well the days as they are, not as I wish them. I am learning to embrace perfectly imperfect. If you, like me, find yourself frustrated by life not going according to plan, and or constant interruptions changing your plans, perhaps you’d appreciate my previous articles How to Plan to be Flexible and More Important Than Your Plan.