The Danger of Perfection | Andrea Johnson, LPC
It’s easy to look at someone else and think…Man, they must have it easy because they are beautiful, rich, smart, well connected with tons of privileges that I don’t have. They must be happy all the time as they skip through their magical life while I grind out every single inch as I push my boulder up a very steep rock mountain like Sisyphus. It may even be impossible to see the struggles others have especially in this artificial, only show my best social media world. There are people that make decisions on what they are going to do over the weekend based on whether it will create stunning social media pictures to put up on their InstaBrag page. They may not even enjoy the activity but if it makes others jealous then it’s a win. With all of this pressure to always be someone else creating content for our media company called Ego Incorporated, we can lose touch of the human struggles everyone has.
Our guest today, Andrea Johnson is a Licensed Professional Counselor that many would look at and say she has it all. She’s beautiful, smart, comes from a wealthy family but she was very depressed and suicidal when she was in her 20s. On paper she had it all which actually made her feel even worse because she felt like she did not suffer enough to feel depressed. In reality, she was going through a different kind of suffering then someone that is oppressed or grows up so poor that they are unsure if they will even eat each day. Her depression came from holding up the impossible standard of PERFECTION. She could not stumble for even a second. Being trapped in a world of perfection is like walking across a field full of landmines where you know you will step on one but you don’t know when. Each step is full of fear and deep anxiety wondering if this will be the step that destroys your perfect world. This pressure can become overwhelming driving people to take their own lives to avoid being found out that they are not perfect when they inevitably step on one of those explosive landmines. Luckily Andrea turned this negative pressure to be perfect into something positive. In this interview, you will hear about her struggles and how she made it through her mine field to become an inspiration for many.