Dear Journal,
Have you ever come face to face with perfection? I have. Last month. I met him in a museum in Italy. Florence, in fact. His name was David…
Ok, so I’m talking about Michelangelo’s world famous statue of the David in Italy’s Accademia Gallery. People come from all over the world to see this perfectly proportioned sculpture that has remained treasured for hundreds of years. The David is a masterpiece. Absolutely perfect.
The David stands at the end of a long hallway, high on a pedestal for all to see, and you can’t help but be immediately drawn to him as soon as you walk into the room. My friends and I found ourselves quickly rushing past the other pieces of art beside us so we could just get to the main attraction. And it did not take us long to realize why he’s such a big deal. A 14-foot, larger-than-life piece of perfection representing high ideals, the beauty we all desire, without one hair out of place. Very impressive, Mr. Michelangelo!
Well…awesome…I had seen the statue, taken my selfie, and mentally checked it off my life-bucket-list. My work here was done…that is until I wandered back to that rushed-through hallway… Want to know what I discovered, there? Rows and rows of unfinished sculptures. The ones my friends and I had ignored. I took a closer look and was awestruck! All of a sudden I realized that this hallway was absolutely necessary to lead up to that perfect sculpture of the David. Because contrary to every fiber of my perfectionist being…it takes time, patience, and gentleness with ourselves to become those perfect masterpieces.
I’ve never been a big fan of the whole patience-thing. I’ll have an idea, and want it to happen RIGHT NOW, so I found these unfinished pieces of art really challenging and inspiring to me. They helped me to remember that perfection is a process. It took Michelangelo years of constantly chipping away at the gleaming white marble to create such a breathtaking masterpiece. It didn’t happen overnight! Nor did he just have a desire to create such beauty, and have it appear. He worked at it. Constantly.
I have especially felt this impatience with Girl Talk over the years. Can’t it just be everything I imagine already?? Even in each successful moment we experience, I often find myself rushing through that to get to the next moment, without taking the time to fully embrace or appreciate all its beauty. And now here I was, in a hallway of alllll these unfinished, in-the-works, soon-to-be wonderful masterpieces. And isn’t this what Girl Talk is like? All its beauty and potential already exists…I just need to keep chipping away to find what’s inside. My challenge is just to be patient with myself and the process in the meantime.
If I want myself, my life, or my organization to be anyway near perfect like the David, I need to be comfortable being perfectly imperfect. Because the reality is that none of us will ever be truly perfect (although we can try). I have to remember that life is about the striving, the struggling, and the sculpting.
I’m so glad I found my way back to that unfinished hallway, and I hope I can remember it each day I feel myself anxious or worried about the imperfect state of my life. Because only when I make that hallway my process, will I be able to eventually reach any level of David-perfection.
Patiently yours,
Julie