Tag Archives: Amy Carroll

Book Review: Breaking Up with Perfect

Breaking Up with Perfect

Do you ever feel like it’s time to break up with your tendencies toward perfection? Breaking Up with Perfect shows you how. It takes you through the belief systems that told you life had to look a certain way, to the skewed values that warped your view of life, to the actions that perpetuate selfishness, to that sweet place of freedom and fulfilling relationships. What do perfectionistic attitudes have to do with relationships? Everything. They rob friendships of the depth of caring needed to overcome obstacles in personality differences!

Amy Carroll says she wrote Breaking Up with Perfect out of her own battle with the Good Girl List. That list that makes you do everything possible to live up to an image you’ve concocted, but no one else expects. She contrasts it with her friend’s list: the Never Good Enough List. What follows is a heart-to-heart talk about the fatal flaws in each list and the devastating toll they take on a heart submitted to them.
Reading this book, I feel exposed. Amy describes me in so many ways, that I feel like she followed me around with a camera! If I ever noticed the horrible consequences of perfectionism, it was never so pronounced. So, why go through the pain of opening up your heart with all of its failures, flaws and all? Because it creates room for relationships; relationships that are encouraging, joy-giving and fill in the gaps of life.
This book provides questions to ask when relationships go awry, recipes for self-absorption and pride, and antidotes to materialism. It is a must-read for anyone who has ever yearned to move from hollowness to wholeness. Amy says, “I’m never getting back together with my do-er mentality.”
Isn’t it time to rest in knowing we don’t have to earn God’s favor? He is our Provider and wants us to trust Him for every bit of our day.
Get this book, for a journey from a difficult place, to a much better place! You’ll also want to check in with Amy’s blog, where Amy has a book club for Breaking Up With Perfect starting on August 1.
I am giving away a copy, courtesy of Howard Books, to one reader in the continental United States. Leave a comment on my blog (at the top of this post, under the title) about ways perfectionism blocks community, and you will be entered into the drawing, to be held one week from today, August 4.
Sally
P.S. Each person who leaves a comment will also receive a free pdf, “What Scripture Tells Us About God’s Love,” from Breaking Up With Perfect!
Disclosure of Material: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through The Blog Spot Network book review program in exchange for a fair and honest review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s CFR Title 16, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”