According to Joanna GainesShe was once a perfectionist who needed to be in control. but in writing his new book and first solo memories, The stories we telldiscovered “the root of the insecurity of [her] Perfectionism” was trying to prove that she was adequate, though she wasn’t sure who she was trying to impress.
Joanna shared that completing her memories helped her regain parts of herself. And in the book, she included a message to others, especially her daughters, about finding and holding on to self-love and acceptance before the world has her say.
Joanna Gaines opened up about developing anxiety on ‘The Stories We Tell’
In The stories we tellJoanna shared that she started to slow down somewhat after 20 years of “moving too fast” to address “insecurities and unhealthy habits.”
“It’s hard to explain how I felt,” he wrote. “I was grateful beyond measure, but exhausted. Loved, but feeling unworthy. Full, but running empty.”
Everything in her life kept moving, but she wasn’t sure where it was headed. She noted, “I could also feel that I was approaching a bend in the road.”
Their eldest son drakehe was “touring colleges at the same time [she] she was touring preschools” for her youngest son, Crew. “Lately, life had felt like a twisted game of tug of war, not knowing what to let go of and what to hold on to,” he explained.
He added that he was losing inspiration and began to experience anxiety for the first time. She revealed: “Some of the ways that I had gotten here, some of the qualities that I had always relied on, like being really productive, super-efficient, always running at high capacity, were starting to work against me.”
How Joanna Gaines tackled the ‘root insecurity’ of her perfectionism
during the annual Magnolia Silobration in Waco, Texas, Joanna and Chip talked The stories we tell and how writing it down helped her realize something needed more attention. She had stopped wondering, “What am I believing about myself today that isn’t true?”
“I was never perfect,” she noted, “but… striving for perfection.”
Joanna said that as she was reviewing her own story and focusing on that desire to avoid feeling inadequate, she asked, “What is the root of the insecurity of perfectionism?”
“It’s the idea that I have to prove to someone that I’m enough,” she replied. “So, I used to pretend perfectionism was my personality, and I’m a micromanager, and I’m all things, that’s who I am.”
the mother of five children he explained that while he “really struggled with it,” he realized, “Oh, I still have these things in me that I’m believing… Who am I trying to prove? [myself] or even act for?
Reformed perfectionist Joanna Gaines said there’s a message for her daughters in ‘The Stories We Tell’
While speaking with Hoda Kotb in This dayJoanna said writing the book helped her go beyond insecurity and stop your striving for perfectionism. And he said there’s a message for others, specifically her teenage daughters, Ella and Emmie Kay, in The stories we tell.
“He got there before me because I want them to really know their worth and their value,” he explained. “Don’t let the world say otherwise.”
She later noted that “much” of the book was written for them, but completing it also allowed her to focus on a new “season” of her life. She feels the first “half” has been “great”, but she added: “Now I want to be really intentional about what I take with me as I go forward.”
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