May 28, 2025 • 12 mins
If you’d love to consistently make perfect health choices that ensure that you don’t end up with all of the chronic diseases of aging that will make you slowly stop living before you die, you need a special ingredient in your thought processes about your health goals, actions, habits and choices. It’s imperfection. And if you really expect to achieve something remarkable, it’s not optional.
Email Me: healthcouragecollective@gmail.com
My Website: www.healthcouragecollective.com
Are you ready to give your cells their best chance to not have to stop living before they die by allowing them access to physiologic levels of hormones, but aren't sure how to even get started? Join the waitlist for my new beta program here and help me figure out how best to help wonderful women like you get the hormone care they deserve!
Come visit me: www.healthcouragecollective.com
email me: healthcouragecollective@gmail.com
Email Me: healthcouragecollective@gmail.com
My Website: www.healthcouragecollective.com
Are you ready to give your cells their best chance to not have to stop living before they die by allowing them access to physiologic levels of hormones, but aren't sure how to even get started? Join the waitlist for my new beta program here and help me figure out how best to help wonderful women like you get the hormone care they deserve!
Come visit me: www.healthcouragecollective.com
email me: healthcouragecollective@gmail.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you'd love to consistently make perfect health choices that
ensure that you don't end up with all of the
chronic diseases of aging that will make you slowly stop
living before you die, you need a special ingredient in
your thought process about your health goals, actions, habits, and choices.
It's imperfection, and if you really expect to achieve something remarkable,
(00:21):
it's not optional. You're listening to Health Courage Collective Podcast,
Episode two hundred and four, Making Perfect health Choices. Welcome
to the Health Courage Collective Podcast, the show for women
who are too busy to slog through hours of generalized
and applicable and often contradictory health information, but too smart
(00:44):
to ignore that a few minutes of focused attention now
can prevent years of suffering in the future. I'm your host,
Christina Hackett, a pharmacist who doesn't want you to live
on prescriptions, a certified coach specifically trained to maximize your potential,
and a compulsive learner of sessed with preventative, cutting edge,
holistic and integrated medicine. I'm on a mission to increase
(01:05):
your physical and mental resilience so you can fearlessly look
forward to your next forty plus limitless years. Your time
is now. Let's go, No, my friend, and welcome to
another episode. Thank you so much for being here today.
It really means a lot to me that you're tuning in.
How is your beginning of summer going? Do you have
(01:26):
kids in school? Are they out for the summer yet?
How are you feeling about awl yolos? I hope a
quick review of sweeteners plus learning about al yulos if
you hadn't looked into it before, was useful to you.
Today we're going to talk about what you really need
to create perfection in your quest for healthy living. I
absolutely love this quote from Richard Rohre, who has been
(01:49):
a Franciscan monk for five decades. It's from his book
Falling Upward, and I think it's super brilliant. He says,
if there is such a thing as human perfection, it
seems to emerge precisely from how we handle the imperfection
that is everywhere, especially our own. What a clever place
(02:11):
for God to hide holiness so that only the humble
and earnest will find it. A perfect person ends up
being one who can consciously forgive and include imperfection, rather
than one who thinks he or she is totally above
and beyond imperfection. It becomes sort of obvious once you
say it out loud. In fact, I would say that
(02:33):
the demand for the perfect is the greatest enemy of
the good end quote. Isn't that such a good quote?
It's one of my all time favorites. Whils striving to
put more years lived in good health into your future
is fabulous and something I very much believe is worth
your effort. A lot of us tend to put a
bunch of pressure on ourselves to have everything perfect. We
(02:54):
tend to think of some habits and actions and personality
traits as good and others as bad, and we spend
a lot of time beating ourselves up for not doing
enough so called good things or doing too many so
called bad things. Maybe we love the idea of being
abnormally able bodied as an old person, and we feel
like we need to earn our way there by suffering today.
(03:18):
I'm not sure, but I am sure that the active
ninety year olds would be the first ones to tell
you that they didn't have a perfect life or make
only perfect choices. For the last nine decades, Perfectionism is
defined as a disposition to regard anything short of perfection
as unacceptable. Perfection isn't bad by definition, it's flawless. Flawless
(03:42):
sounds pretty good to me right. In his book The
Pursuit of perfect tal Ben Shahar teaches us the important
lesson that perfectionism isn't a distant shore to be reached.
It's not somewhere we're ever going to get. It's a
guiding star. It's how we know what direction to sale.
We'll never enjoy the journey along the way if we
(04:04):
think we won't be happy until we get to that
distant shore. The quest for the perfect can light our path,
but will rob ourselves of happiness and success. Now, if
we think perfection in our actions and habits is an
actual possibility, perfectionism, that disposition to regard anything short of
perfection as unacceptable, is very problematic. In his book How
(04:29):
to Be an Imperfectionist, Stephen Guy says that perfectionism makes
you stay home, not take chances, and procrastinate on projects.
It makes you think your life is worse than it is.
It keeps you from being yourself, It stresses you out.
It tells you that good is bad, and it ignores
the natural way in which things work end quote. So
(04:51):
what if we refuse to be stressed out or to
believe that good is bad? What if we are more
authentically ourselves and embrace the natural way in which things work?
Then would be what Stephen Guys calls an imperfectionist. He
says that imperfection isn't bad, it's freedom and Father Rohrer
(05:12):
said that a perfect persson is one who can consciously
forgive and include imperfection, rather than one who thinks she
is totally above and beyond imperfection. So our key to
the perfect health choices is to include and accept imperfection,
even the imperfections within ourselves. Stephen Guys gives us a
(05:34):
few tips about how to become better imperfectionists. He says
that the problem with perfection comes from unrealistic expectations, rumination,
the need for approval, concern over our mistakes, and doubts
about our actions. I'm going to repeat those just to
make sure you got them, because sometimes listening to a
(05:55):
list isn't the greatest. Unrealistic expectations, rumination, need for approval,
concern over our mistakes, and doubts about our actions. Our
way to overcome unrealistic expectations is to quit being so
attached to the results and to put our focus on
(06:17):
a process. We've talked about this before. How can you
show up as who you want to be and focus
on the things you want to do while letting go
of the end result. Maybe you want to connect more
with your teenager. How can you take the focus off
whether you feel like you had a fantastically bonding and
deeply connecting interaction over the too expensive gift you bought
(06:38):
for him and put it on your process? What can
you do to show up as the mom you want
to be, regardless of the outcome? How can you feel
more love for him, regardless of how he appears to feel.
Focus on that instead of the outcome you can't control
no matter how hard you try. We overcome rumination by
(07:00):
not thinking about things we cannot change, no matter how
much we wish we could. We can't change the genetic
predispositions written into our DNA out of our hands. Now,
what what can you change? We get past our need
for approval by divorcing our sense of self worth from
other people's opinions, only your own opinion of yourself matters anyway.
(07:22):
We overcome our concerns about mistakes by learning to embrace
mistakes as an inherent part of life. How can you
remind yourself when something goes askew that it's not because
you're less than or you didn't try harden, It's because
you're human and mistakes part of life. Mistakes are how
we learn. Perfectionism and imperfectionism are both determined by what
(07:47):
you care about. So what do you care about? Is
it a perfectly sculpted bubble butt. I can't believe about
the thing either, but it is what else? Size four clothes,
posting your half marathon results on Instagram? Or is it
something deeper? Imperfectionists care less about results and more about
(08:09):
putting in the worthy work of the person that they
want to be. They care less about problems and more
about progress. They care less about what other people think
and more about who they want to be and what
they want to do. They care less about doing it
right and more about showing up and doing it at all.
(08:31):
Do you remember the part of the quote from Father
Ruhar that said that human perfection emerges from how we
handle imperfections, especially our own, and that it is where
God hides holiness so that only the humble and earnest
can find it. Handling our own imperfections well is so important,
(08:52):
but so harsh. It's often easier to forgive others than
to forgive ourselves. So what can you do to change
even just a tiny bit? How can you better handle
your own imperfections? What can you do to hold yourself
to a high standard? Allow your idea of perfectly healthy
behavior to be your guiding star, but still forgive, accept,
(09:15):
and embrace your personal imperfections. We all have them. How
we respond to them can be a key to holiness,
which is pretty cool. What's even cooler is that embracing
imperfection kills the fear of failure because it includes failure
as part of the process. It's smarter and more effective
(09:37):
to focus on what you can actually control, which is
the process, not the results. So by caring more about
the process whether or not you show up, it sort
of ironically shows that you actually care more about the result,
not less what You're just not gripping it so tightly
that you start to strangle it. This is why I
think it's so important to start with what you're trying
(09:59):
to to create for your future. You can use my
free asset framework guide to get started. If you haven't
done that, I'll put a link in the show notes,
or you can find it under free resources on my website.
Once you know what you really want more than the
superficial stuff advice givers just assume that you want, you
(10:20):
can focus on the process you can implement to facilitate
the outcome. What's your process? What can you actually control?
How can you focus on that and know that the
outcome will for sure not be exactly what you had envisioned,
and that that's not just okay, but a beautiful thing,
(10:43):
the true perfectly healthy life. Even How can you welcome
and include imperfection in your health choices, plans, and habits.
How can you still get the outcome you're hoping for
even if you end up having to work during the
plates class you hope go to, your daughter gives you
a box of chocolates, or you just didn't have the
(11:04):
bandwidth to prep five healthy lunches to bring to the
office with you this week. Imperfections or wrenches getting thrown
into our perfectly healthy plans can be an opportunity to
grow and practice our philosophy. The more imperfections we have
to deal with, the better we can become at accepting
and appropriately responding to them. Yea, the better we get
(11:29):
at handling imperfection, the closer to perfection we actually become weird.
Thank you so much for being here today. Remember that
the key to becoming more perfect is to know that
you are never above and beyond imperfection, and that you
don't allow the demand for the perfect to be the
enemy of the good. We can have an extraordinary life
(11:50):
by stringing together a bunch of pretty good days. Next
week we're going to talk about a sort of confusing
marker of long term health called Homocystein. Until then, don't
allow your lovely sounding thoughts to become an enemy of
good health, and don't be normal. Thank you so much
for tuning into the Health Courage Collective podcast. I am
(12:12):
truly honored that you have paid me the enormous compliment
of your time and attention. I would be so grateful
if you would share this podcast with someone you know
and subscribe so you never miss an episode. This podcast
is for entertainment and information purposes. Only. Statements and views
on this podcast are not medical advice. This podcast including
Christina Hackett and producers disclaim responsibility for any possible adverse
(12:35):
events by use of information contained hearing. If you think
you have a medical problem, consult a licensed Posisions
If you'd love to consistently make perfect health choices that
ensure that you don't end up with all of the
chronic diseases of aging that will make you slowly stop
living before you die, you need a special ingredient in
your thought process about your health goals, actions, habits, and choices.
It's imperfection, and if you really expect to achieve something remarkable,
(00:21):
it's not optional. You're listening to Health Courage Collective Podcast,
Episode two hundred and four, Making Perfect health Choices. Welcome
to the Health Courage Collective Podcast, the show for women
who are too busy to slog through hours of generalized
and applicable and often contradictory health information, but too smart
(00:44):
to ignore that a few minutes of focused attention now
can prevent years of suffering in the future. I'm your host,
Christina Hackett, a pharmacist who doesn't want you to live
on prescriptions, a certified coach specifically trained to maximize your potential,
and a compulsive learner of sessed with preventative, cutting edge,
holistic and integrated medicine. I'm on a mission to increase
(01:05):
your physical and mental resilience so you can fearlessly look
forward to your next forty plus limitless years. Your time
is now. Let's go, No, my friend, and welcome to
another episode. Thank you so much for being here today.
It really means a lot to me that you're tuning in.
How is your beginning of summer going? Do you have
(01:26):
kids in school? Are they out for the summer yet?
How are you feeling about awl yolos? I hope a
quick review of sweeteners plus learning about al yulos if
you hadn't looked into it before, was useful to you.
Today we're going to talk about what you really need
to create perfection in your quest for healthy living. I
absolutely love this quote from Richard Rohre, who has been
(01:49):
a Franciscan monk for five decades. It's from his book
Falling Upward, and I think it's super brilliant. He says,
if there is such a thing as human perfection, it
seems to emerge precisely from how we handle the imperfection
that is everywhere, especially our own. What a clever place
(02:11):
for God to hide holiness so that only the humble
and earnest will find it. A perfect person ends up
being one who can consciously forgive and include imperfection, rather
than one who thinks he or she is totally above
and beyond imperfection. It becomes sort of obvious once you
say it out loud. In fact, I would say that
(02:33):
the demand for the perfect is the greatest enemy of
the good end quote. Isn't that such a good quote?
It's one of my all time favorites. Whils striving to
put more years lived in good health into your future
is fabulous and something I very much believe is worth
your effort. A lot of us tend to put a
bunch of pressure on ourselves to have everything perfect. We
(02:54):
tend to think of some habits and actions and personality
traits as good and others as bad, and we spend
a lot of time beating ourselves up for not doing
enough so called good things or doing too many so
called bad things. Maybe we love the idea of being
abnormally able bodied as an old person, and we feel
like we need to earn our way there by suffering today.
(03:18):
I'm not sure, but I am sure that the active
ninety year olds would be the first ones to tell
you that they didn't have a perfect life or make
only perfect choices. For the last nine decades, Perfectionism is
defined as a disposition to regard anything short of perfection
as unacceptable. Perfection isn't bad by definition, it's flawless. Flawless
(03:42):
sounds pretty good to me right. In his book The
Pursuit of perfect tal Ben Shahar teaches us the important
lesson that perfectionism isn't a distant shore to be reached.
It's not somewhere we're ever going to get. It's a
guiding star. It's how we know what direction to sale.
We'll never enjoy the journey along the way if we
(04:04):
think we won't be happy until we get to that
distant shore. The quest for the perfect can light our path,
but will rob ourselves of happiness and success. Now, if
we think perfection in our actions and habits is an
actual possibility, perfectionism, that disposition to regard anything short of
perfection as unacceptable, is very problematic. In his book How
(04:29):
to Be an Imperfectionist, Stephen Guy says that perfectionism makes
you stay home, not take chances, and procrastinate on projects.
It makes you think your life is worse than it is.
It keeps you from being yourself, It stresses you out.
It tells you that good is bad, and it ignores
the natural way in which things work end quote. So
(04:51):
what if we refuse to be stressed out or to
believe that good is bad? What if we are more
authentically ourselves and embrace the natural way in which things work?
Then would be what Stephen Guys calls an imperfectionist. He
says that imperfection isn't bad, it's freedom and Father Rohrer
(05:12):
said that a perfect persson is one who can consciously
forgive and include imperfection, rather than one who thinks she
is totally above and beyond imperfection. So our key to
the perfect health choices is to include and accept imperfection,
even the imperfections within ourselves. Stephen Guys gives us a
(05:34):
few tips about how to become better imperfectionists. He says
that the problem with perfection comes from unrealistic expectations, rumination,
the need for approval, concern over our mistakes, and doubts
about our actions. I'm going to repeat those just to
make sure you got them, because sometimes listening to a
(05:55):
list isn't the greatest. Unrealistic expectations, rumination, need for approval,
concern over our mistakes, and doubts about our actions. Our
way to overcome unrealistic expectations is to quit being so
attached to the results and to put our focus on
(06:17):
a process. We've talked about this before. How can you
show up as who you want to be and focus
on the things you want to do while letting go
of the end result. Maybe you want to connect more
with your teenager. How can you take the focus off
whether you feel like you had a fantastically bonding and
deeply connecting interaction over the too expensive gift you bought
(06:38):
for him and put it on your process? What can
you do to show up as the mom you want
to be, regardless of the outcome? How can you feel
more love for him, regardless of how he appears to feel.
Focus on that instead of the outcome you can't control
no matter how hard you try. We overcome rumination by
(07:00):
not thinking about things we cannot change, no matter how
much we wish we could. We can't change the genetic
predispositions written into our DNA out of our hands. Now,
what what can you change? We get past our need
for approval by divorcing our sense of self worth from
other people's opinions, only your own opinion of yourself matters anyway.
(07:22):
We overcome our concerns about mistakes by learning to embrace
mistakes as an inherent part of life. How can you
remind yourself when something goes askew that it's not because
you're less than or you didn't try harden, It's because
you're human and mistakes part of life. Mistakes are how
we learn. Perfectionism and imperfectionism are both determined by what
(07:47):
you care about. So what do you care about? Is
it a perfectly sculpted bubble butt. I can't believe about
the thing either, but it is what else? Size four clothes,
posting your half marathon results on Instagram? Or is it
something deeper? Imperfectionists care less about results and more about
(08:09):
putting in the worthy work of the person that they
want to be. They care less about problems and more
about progress. They care less about what other people think
and more about who they want to be and what
they want to do. They care less about doing it
right and more about showing up and doing it at all.
(08:31):
Do you remember the part of the quote from Father
Ruhar that said that human perfection emerges from how we
handle imperfections, especially our own, and that it is where
God hides holiness so that only the humble and earnest
can find it. Handling our own imperfections well is so important,
(08:52):
but so harsh. It's often easier to forgive others than
to forgive ourselves. So what can you do to change
even just a tiny bit? How can you better handle
your own imperfections? What can you do to hold yourself
to a high standard? Allow your idea of perfectly healthy
behavior to be your guiding star, but still forgive, accept,
(09:15):
and embrace your personal imperfections. We all have them. How
we respond to them can be a key to holiness,
which is pretty cool. What's even cooler is that embracing
imperfection kills the fear of failure because it includes failure
as part of the process. It's smarter and more effective
(09:37):
to focus on what you can actually control, which is
the process, not the results. So by caring more about
the process whether or not you show up, it sort
of ironically shows that you actually care more about the result,
not less what You're just not gripping it so tightly
that you start to strangle it. This is why I
think it's so important to start with what you're trying
(09:59):
to to create for your future. You can use my
free asset framework guide to get started. If you haven't
done that, I'll put a link in the show notes,
or you can find it under free resources on my website.
Once you know what you really want more than the
superficial stuff advice givers just assume that you want, you
(10:20):
can focus on the process you can implement to facilitate
the outcome. What's your process? What can you actually control?
How can you focus on that and know that the
outcome will for sure not be exactly what you had envisioned,
and that that's not just okay, but a beautiful thing,
(10:43):
the true perfectly healthy life. Even How can you welcome
and include imperfection in your health choices, plans, and habits.
How can you still get the outcome you're hoping for
even if you end up having to work during the
plates class you hope go to, your daughter gives you
a box of chocolates, or you just didn't have the
(11:04):
bandwidth to prep five healthy lunches to bring to the
office with you this week. Imperfections or wrenches getting thrown
into our perfectly healthy plans can be an opportunity to
grow and practice our philosophy. The more imperfections we have
to deal with, the better we can become at accepting
and appropriately responding to them. Yea, the better we get
(11:29):
at handling imperfection, the closer to perfection we actually become weird.
Thank you so much for being here today. Remember that
the key to becoming more perfect is to know that
you are never above and beyond imperfection, and that you
don't allow the demand for the perfect to be the
enemy of the good. We can have an extraordinary life
(11:50):
by stringing together a bunch of pretty good days. Next
week we're going to talk about a sort of confusing
marker of long term health called Homocystein. Until then, don't
allow your lovely sounding thoughts to become an enemy of
good health, and don't be normal. Thank you so much
for tuning into the Health Courage Collective podcast. I am
(12:12):
truly honored that you have paid me the enormous compliment
of your time and attention. I would be so grateful
if you would share this podcast with someone you know
and subscribe so you never miss an episode. This podcast
is for entertainment and information purposes. Only. Statements and views
on this podcast are not medical advice. This podcast including
Christina Hackett and producers disclaim responsibility for any possible adverse
(12:35):
events by use of information contained hearing. If you think
you have a medical problem, consult a licensed Posisions
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