The pursuit of perfection is something I kinda grew up with. My dad always told me being perfect is impossible but it is possible to get as close to it as you can.

 So, I pushed myself to be as perfect as possible. I was on the A or AB honor roll (although my goal was to always get all A's). Every sport I did, I wanted to be the best and to not make any mistakes, since mistakes highlight the imperfections. 

If I wasn't as close to perfect as I could get I would cry and get down on myself, sit alone and wonder why I sucked so bad. 

For some people this is motivation to get better and become close to perfect in whatever they failed at. 

For me I would shut down and never want to try the thing I failed at again. 

It sounds stupid, I know but, things usually just come naturally to me, I never really had to struggle to do anything. So, when I fail it's an even bigger deal for me since most of the time I don't.

When my mom and dad split I lived with my mom and she noticed how I upset I got

when I got a bad grade and how I wanted to quit basketball and volleyball because I made too many mistakes. But, she wouldn't let me quit, she told me that I am not going to be perfect or close to it all the time, that people learn more from failures than from successes. 

I had to and have to realize that. I still find myself trying to be close to perfect and getting upset, angry or sad when I am not. I have become less rigid, but, I am still in search of a happy medium

I don't think that my dad is mistaken by trying to be close to perfect.

 It's just too much pressure try and be perfect at everything.