13 Secret Struggles Perfectionists Face

1. Some people are ashamed of their drug habits, but there’s no Narcotics Anonymous for your day planner and colored highlighters.

2. Working on group projects is a nightmare of the highest degree. You don’t want other people’s work reflecting you. You don’t look down on them, it’s just that your personal standards are a lot higher.

3. You can’t have casual conversation with people about TV shows. You don’t watch shows casually. You either have a fangirl level 501 knowledge of the show, or you don’t have time for it.

4. You’re extremely conscious of deadlines but because you want your project to be perfect, you’re often burning the midnight oil or getting things done just in the knick of time. People might think you’re overthinking it, but nothing beats the rush of satisfaction you experience turning over something you are 100% proud of.

5. You spend a lot of time reading about efficiency and the right way to do things but you’re afraid to help others out when you see them doing something wrong. You want to help, but you don’t want to be a know-it-all.

6. At some point in your career, people will begin to work ‘under’ you. You have a mid-life crisis about it because this means you have to delegate work. You no longer have complete control over everything that has your name on it and the struggle to adjust is very real.

7. It’s hard to relate to people already, but when you get an email from a boss that’s riddled with typos and grammatical errors, you REALLY struggle with how you’re going to continue in your working relationship.

8. You’re chronically early or at least right on time. Unfortunately, most everyone else is running at least five minutes late and your perfectionist brain is constantly calculating what you could be doing with all that lost time.

9. Your significant other ‘surprises you’ with something romantic and it’s hard for you because you’d already planned your evening/have to leave before you wash the dishes and imagine them become crusty for the rest of the night.

10. Your perfectionist tendencies also give you a bit of OCD, so small details can give you unexplainable anxiety.

11. Sometimes you wish you could be like other people and just not care so much. You’re proud of your accomplishments but you can’t just call in sick for the day and go to the beach for a mental health day, or other things you see your friends doing without an ounce of guilt.

12. People know of your perfectionism and take advantage of you sometimes by sending you a haphazard essay and asking for you to ‘glance over’ it knowing full well you’ll spend an hour reworking and word-smithing it into a powerful and compelling argument. If you’re a woman, this also means you’re going to be in a lot of wedding simply because the bride knows you’re the best bridesmaid a girl could ever ask for–detail oriented with a don’t-quit-till-it’s-perfect attitude.

13. When you make a mistake, you have a terrible habit of dwelling on it. You wish you could “just let it go” like so many people advise, but it’s truly not something you’re able to do.