10 - Interview with Tina Kocol

Have you ever struggled with never quite feeling good enough? In this episode, Tina Kocol, author of The Perfectionism Journal: Guided Prompts and Mindfulness Practices to Reduce Anxiety and Find Calm and psychotherapist and founder of Philly EMDR and Green Circle Collective, engaged in a conversation about perfectionism. In this conversation, Tina highlights both the strengths and the struggles inherent in perfectionism. She discusses perfectionism as a creative adaptation to life’s struggles that can, unchecked, eventually lead to unnecessary pressure and emotional distress. Tina offers the possibility of generating awareness as a form of empowerment. She suggests that we can choose whether or not to continue to allow perfectionism to call the shots or to take back the power to discern what is “good enough” for ourselves and feel generally happier in life. Key Takeaways: Perfectionism can lead to superpowers as well as struggles: the key is in whether you harness it as a tool or allow it to control you. There are 3 primary kinds of perfectionism: self-oriented, social-oriented, and other-oriented perfectionism that can show up in different ways in our lives. Perfectionism can become an addiction in that we look for the “next thing” or benchmark for our perfectionism to latch onto. Resources: https://www.greencirclecollective.com/ https://www.phillyemdr.com/ https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-perfectionism-journal-tina-kocol/1140850812