Wondering About the Name?

In our house the go-to favorite breakfast is pancakes. Pancakes with syrup. Pancakes with sprinkles and whipped cream. Pancakes with jam. Pancakes on their own. Yeah, we are definitely a pancake family and each person has their own style. Not really promoting health in this post ;-)

My husband makes them. We love them-especially the kiddos…and there are no leftovers.

I’m sure a lot of you have a pancake recipe that is near and dear to your family and this one is ours. I’ll share the link to our trophy recipe find down below. Delicious.

Our undeniable love for pancakes is partly why we decided to name my blog the way we did. But “Imperfect pancakes, please?”-what does that even mean? Well, my husband and I were brainstorming. We were thinking of phrases having to do with the sun and the clouds, cartwheels and parties. Yeah, we were all over the place, but that’s kind of how brainstorming goes. Then pancakes just came to me. It didn’t quite make sense to my husband, but in the end, he understood too.

Imperfect pancakes, please, means we have a choice when it comes to well, anything, even yummy pancakes. Have you ever noticed that after you start chasing after perfection it gets worse? And that everyone’s idea of perfect is different. There is no standard. So that stands to reason that having more than one perfectionist in a room spells disaster. Who’s learned that the hard way? (My hand slowly raised.)

When that perfectionist hairy monster shows up, your anxiety increases. You want more and more perfection around you. It’s like that hairy monster’s saying, “more, more!” It’s got this big open mouth with zigzagged teeth and it’s super hungry.

But when you stop and think about it, the anxiety feels icky. Everything in the vicinity is going faster. You hope that when you reach your ideal of perfection with whatever task you’re trying, the monster will be satisfied and stop, but it’s the anxiety you feel. The pressure on your chest. Sometimes the monster never wants to stop.

I am by no means a psychologist or a psychiatrist so please take this not as an expert but as a friend talking from experiences. The experiences I share in my blog, I’ve felt in my own life and observed in others. Chasing after perfection causes anxiety, heartache and tears.

I know I’ve said this already, please don’t take me as a broken record, but this is because on this earth perfection is unattainable. Simply, it just doesn’t exist here. I’m not saying we shouldn’t try our best and have pride in our work. What I’m saying is if we’re trying to get the perfect family photo, the perfect looking living room at all times, the perfect children the perfect husband, or even the perfect self we won’t see the beauty and blessings in front of us. We are missing out on so much.

When we look for what we perceive as perfection and flawlessness we don’t see the smiles and we don’t see the fun. We have your upset children because they think they disappointed their family and and upset parent because hindsight is 20/20.

We miss out on beautiful artwork our kids make for us if we only see coloring outside the lines.

What I’ve learned through experiences is that when I’m not relaxed and I’m micromanaging, that’s when people are the most anxious around me. That’s also when my kids start trying to make their blanket forts perfect. Let me say, that was the most eye-opening experience for me. When a kid is trying to get every blanket, just perfect and crying because it’s impossible for blankets to accomplish the kind of architectural feat they are demanding. You start to look inside and see that you were the reason why they’re doing this. Yeah, that one hit home. Hard.

It’s hard to stop. It’s a choice. It’s a choice to take unnecessary pressure off of yourself to teach your children to relax to teach yourself how to relax. And wow… It is not easy sometimes. But like I said, I am a recovering perfectionist. Every day is a new day. Every day is beautiful. Every day is not perfect.

Now at our house we say “perfection doesn’t exist” when we catch ourselves chasing after that hairy monster like it escaped from the zoo.

I know many of you can relate. Many of us at some point in our lives, if we’re being honest with ourselves, have made others miserable around us because we had to have some thing just-so, or well, perfect. Odds are many are like me and have looked back on those moments hung our heads and thought, “why did I do that?” Why did I make my family sit through grueling, family photos at home just to get the perfect smiles, and everyone looking at the camera, even the puppy.

So, I say all that to say…today I have the choice to choose the imperfect pancake and that’s what I’m going to do. And, it tastes great.

I’m going to play with my kids and not worry about the mess until it’s time to clean it up. I’m going to bake chocolate chip cookies with my kids and not worry about every cookie being the same size or a little extra flour or oats finding their way in the batter. I’m going to take a candid picture as our family photo this year. I’m going to have some fun and teach my kids how to relax and have fun too.  

Delish Pancakes!

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/21014/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/