Your longing for perfection is the enemy...

Your longing for perfection is the enemy

Relationship Tip #6

Empathic couples therapy session with Figs O'Sullivan focusing on relationship healing.

It’s time for some brutal truth telling!

Relationship Tip #6: Your longing for perfection is the enemy of your good-enough relationship.

You ready to be honest with yourself? Do you ever doubt that your partner is the right one for you? We’ll keep this just between you and me. ???? 

Are they really hot enough, smart enough, or funny enough for you? Do they have the correct political opinion or make enough money? Are they a good enough break dancer? Do they crack their boiled egg on the right end? Do they keep trying to eat your ice cream instead of just getting their own?!

You are not alone.

But maybe, just maybe, the fixation you have on whatever your partner is lacking is a bigger problem in your relationship than your partner’s flaws. 

Ever hear this one: Who is the right person to be with? THE ONE YOU ARE WITH!

Chances are your partner is a good-enough other. (Pssst… you’re a good-enough other too.) 

Let me introduce to you Figs, AKA just about good-enough Husband to a good-enough Wife, good-enough Dad to two good-enough children, and a good-enough Therapist and Relationship Coach. Any more than barely good enough would make me crap at all these roles!

What would your relationship look like if you gave your expectations a rest for a minute and did your own work
so you can stay connected with your good-enough partner? Yes, your current one, not your secretly longed for future partner.

Start by getting curious about yourself. 

  • What’s going on inside you that makes you want to fixate on your partner’s shortcomings? 
  • Is it possible that this serves a purpose that has nothing to do with your partner’s flaws? 
  • Could it have anything to do with your own vulnerability and keeping a safe distance from your less than perfect (but good-enough) traits?

If you want to have a brilliant relationship, it’s time to give up the dream of perfection and do your own emotional work instead.

There’s a real live human (steeped in glorious flaws) who is important to you and wants to connect with you more than anything in the whole wide world. And your longing for perfection is getting in the flippin’ way.

Go get busy connecting with your imperfect good-enough partner so they can give your imperfect good-enough self the lovin’ you deserve.

Take two minutes to read your Self-Discovery Report once you have taken the Empathi Quiz— knowing and accepting your vulnerability in love is an essential step toward having a successful relationship!

Be kind to yourself and each other, 

Figs
Take the free attachment style quiz to learn more.

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Fiachra "Figs" O’Sullivan is a renowned couples therapist and the founder of Empathi.com. He believes the principles of secure attachment and sound money are the two essential protocols for building a future filled with hope. A husband and dad, he lives in Hawaii, where he’s an outrigger canoe paddler, getting humbled daily by the wind and waves. He’s also incessantly funny, to the point that he should probably see someone about that.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How does perfectionism hurt my relationship?+
Because perfectionism is not about standards. It is about fear. When you are constantly measuring your partner against some ideal, what you are really doing is protecting yourself from the terror of being disappointed. Your longing for perfection is the enemy of your good enough relationship. And here is the brutal truth: that "perfect partner" you are imagining? They do not exist. What exists is a real human being standing in front of you, doing their best with the wiring they have. The question is not whether they are perfect. The question is whether you can tolerate the discomfort of loving someone who is not.
Why do I keep doubting my partner is right for me?+
Because doubt is what your nervous system produces when intimacy gets too close. It is a protective strategy. If you grew up learning that people leave or let you down, then your brain will look for evidence that this person will too. That is not intuition. That is your attachment system running an old program. I call this low time preference love. Secure attachment means tolerating discomfort in the present to build something lasting, instead of fleeing at the first sign of imperfection. The couples who make it are not the ones without doubt. They are the ones who choose each other in spite of it.
How do I stop looking for the perfect relationship?+
You start by grieving the fantasy. Seriously. There is a loss involved in accepting that your partner is human, that your relationship will have hard seasons, that no one will complete you the way the movies promised. But on the other side of that grief is something far better than perfection: real intimacy. Real intimacy is built in the mess, in the repair after the fight, in the moment you choose to stay when everything in you wants to run. If you are caught in cycles of doubt and criticism, Figlet, our AI relationship coach, can help you understand what is driving it and start building something real.