Twice in the past two weeks I’ve been referred to as a perfectionist. Both times I wanted to jump up and say “Hey, I’m sitting right here!” I mean, I can definitely think of worse things to be called, but no one ever calls someone a perfectionist and means it in a positive way, do they? Anytime you add -ist to a word it just reeks of being whatever it is to a fault, right? I’ve never once thought of myself as a perfectionist (and if I had to guess, neither has my mother). A people pleaser, maybe. Particular? Ok. Slightly OCD? Possibly. But a perfectionist? Not me — the girl that used to get yelled at on the way to school every day for not applying herself.

Has anyone ever said something about you in a very matter-of-fact way that made you think “Whoa, that’s me”?