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Flaunt Your Flaws Day!

December 21, 2009 by Giulietta Nardone

Hey People Who Like To Do Things Differently,

I’m designating today “Flaunt Your Flaws Day.” The intense societal pressure to be perfect can make you do crazy things. It can drive you over the edge of despair. It can make you second guess your every move.

Forget perfect. It’s not achievable or desirable.

I used to think I had to be perfect: say perfect things, look perfect, be in perfect shape, be a perfect employee, be a perfect wife, be a perfect friend, be a perfect daughter, be a perfect small business owner.

Not interested in being perfect anymore. I want to be me with my so called flaws. Flaws get a bad rap. We’re supposed to keep working on them until they disappear. Flaws are the flip side of your greatest strength. You can’t be great without a balancing flaw. To be flawless is to be mediocre, to be unreal, to be dull and boring, to never make anyone mad, to always go along with the program, to live in fear.

The late, great Paul Newman said, “If you don’t have enemies, you don’t have character.”

Society and its institutions try to remove people’s flaws. Yet, if you remove them, you remove what’s unique, different and compelling about a person.

Take me. My greatest strength? You can’t pull the wool over my eyes. I will investigate anything that doesn’t add up and take action. My greatest flaw? You can’t pull the wool over my eyes. I will annoy anyone who does not want the status quo challenged/changed, who does not want anyone to look under the floor boards or take action.

If you get rid of your greatest strength, then you will also get rid of your greatest flaw. For that reason, I say celebrate your flaws!

What strength/flaw can you celebrate? Or maybe you don’t agree. I’d like to hear it and so would my open-minded readers.

Muse thx,

Giulietta

3 responses to “Flaunt Your Flaws Day!”

  1. Sally says:

    Interesting theory about strengths and flaws. I guess this is one way it works with me. Flaw: my apartment is usually a mess. Once the occasion I host is over, the dining room table disappears under piles of clutter. My strength? I’m pretty laid back and won’t judge you by the clutter in your house.

  2. giulietta says:

    Sally,

    As a fellow messaholic, I really appreciate this comment. It’s so liberating! Here’s to a comfortable mess.

    Giulietta

  3. Karen says:

    I love your strength/flaw! Why? Because I have the same one. If it doesn’t make sense, I’m all over it until it does…or I think it does..uncovering every stone. It works great when I help others with their life to reach their full potential but it annoys the heck out of my loves one becuase I don’t just take things at face value….I like reading the book rather than the cover! I never looked at it as a strenght and flaw in one until your post…thanks for opening my eyes to look at them in a totally different way and bringing clarity to the statement “You are only as strong as your greatest weakness”. Awesome!