burnout and the curse of perfectionism
Posted by tom | May 29, 2005A friend recommended a thread on "burnout and the curse of perfectionism." Thought I'd just post it up and solicit your thoughts on the topic. I'll share some in the coming week.
PS. I haven't gotten to it yet but IVP recently published Perfecting Ourselves to Death by Richard Winter, a psychiatrist, is professor of practical theology at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Would love to hear from those who have read this piece. I'm thinking about using this piece for the grad discussion groups in the fall.
What is it that drives us to perfectionism, a virtuous sin? One of my students said he studied all the time not because he loved chemistry, but because he hated himself when he didn't get 100% on everything. Is this an attempt at self-atonement? I'm especially concerned about the epidemic depression among students, especially asians. They can be exceptionally talented, very hard workers, and yet always down on themselves, always feeling like a failure. Why? Why? Why?
Posted by miller peck, Jun 3 2005, 13:39Is false theology partly to blame? The performance base of our society: running on a treadmill with the motor set to increae the speed everyday. I have here a book by Philip Simmons:
"Learning to Fall: the blessings of an imperfect life", bantam books, 2002. I will report on this later. What change in attitude would it take to develop the freedom to fail?