Striving for perfection has major flaws

Sharon Sedlar | February 13, 2025

If you read our last few newsletters, you’ll know that we’ve been busy celebrating National School Choice Week (month, really!). We’ve attended events in New Jersey, DC, and of course our beloved PA! For every speech, meeting, and event, perfection was the ideal – and it’s only human to think that way. But the pursuit of perfection binds and blinds us.

Not only is the pursuit of perfection unhealthy for us, but also for our families and communities. Nothing is going to be perfect in life. One of my mottos is: “We do the best we can, when we can, with the information we have at the time.” This allows for much-needed grace for both ourselves and others. Some people may strive to be like June Cleaver or Bev Goldberg from days past (most days, I’m more like Frankie Heck), but we need to be our own ideal, and the fact that we’ve attained that is reflected in our families’ well-being and demeanor.

Life and families are messy because they’re always evolving. We parents are experts at pivoting to suit what our families need; sometimes that takes major effort and sacrifice, and sometimes we can breathe and “skate” for a while.

In my work here at PA Families for Education Choice, I am frequently stalled from putting out material, resources, and information in the quest for it to be “perfect.” The bottleneck isn’t doing anyone any good! So stay tuned as we start to clear it – videos, resources, and articles about at risk youth, special needs, education entrepreneurs, and home education – and even some “lives” when the moment strikes.

So as we dig deeper into the year and all of the chaos and “mess” that comes with it, let’s give ourselves some grace; allow ourselves to enjoy our journeys in family, community, and advocacy – because they are their own “perfection” just the way they are.