"So, Mr. Albert, you've told us about your strengths but what about your weaknesses?" It's a common interview question. To which a classic humblebrag (谦虚自夸) reply is, "Well. I must admit that I'm a bit of a perfectionist." After all, what company wouldn't want to employ somebody who seeks perfection? But it turns out that there is a profound difference between high-achievers and perfectionists. In a cruel irony, the perfectionist traits could actually prevent someone from achieving their full potential.

The roots of perfectionism actually lie in a deep desire to feel perfect. Most often a perfectionist personality is formed in reaction to some form of childhood trauma. For example, following her parents' divorce, a young girl might strive to always be good, to always be perfect because at some level she believes that it must have been her fault that her parents separated. So as long as she is perfect, nothing so terrible would happen again. 

Given such origins, it appears that the thinking and emotional styles associated with perfectionism are particularly dangerous to mental health. Think of the harshest and merciless perfectionists you know. They always, always, always find fault. Their cognitive (认知) styles include all-or-nothing thinking, where only perfection is seen as an acceptable result; fear of failure, where a perfectionist is driven by fear rather than pulled by the prospect of success in their endeavors; defensiveness in the face of constructive criticism. All of these seem to be linked to a wide range of psychological problems including eating disorders, anxiety and depression, and even suicide. 

Changing this mindset is the key to treating the condition when it becomes a disorder but it is difficult to achieve. Perfectionists are essentially in an abusive relationship with themselves. It's hard enough to withdraw from abusive relationships with others. How much harder is it when you yourself are the abuser? So perhaps a better answer to the interview question posed at the start of this article would be, "I used to be a perfectionist but now I'm well on the road to recovery."

On the day he almost died, Kimbal Musk had food on the brain. The Internet startup talent and restaurateur had just arrived in Jackson Hole from a conference where chef Jamie Oliver had spoken about the benefits of healthy eating. This was something Musk thought about a lot- how he might make a difference to the food industry—but beyond expanding his farm-to-table movement along with his restaurant, Musk hadn't yet broken the code. Then he went sailing down a snowy slope (坡) and fell over, breaking his neck. The left side of his body was paralyzed.

Musk eventually made a full recovery, but it involved spending two months on his back, which gave him plenty of time to come up with a plan. Since then, he has launched an initiative to put "learning gardens" in public schools across America; attracted Generation Z to the farming profession by changing shipping containers into high-tech, data-driven, year-round farms; and this year, is kicking off a new campaign to create one million at-home gardens.

Aimed at reaching low- income families, the Million Gardens Movement was inspired by the pandemic, as both a desire to feel more connected to nature and food insecurity have been at the forefront of so many people's lives. "We were getting a lot of inquiries about gardening from people that had never gardened before," says Musk. "People were looking to garden for a bunch of reasons: to supplement their budget, to improve the nutritional quality of their diets, or just to cure the boredom that came with the lockdown. "

The program offers free garden kits that can be grown indoors or outdoors, and will be distributed through schools that Musk's non-profit, Big Green, has already partnered with. It also offers free courses on how to get the garden growing and fresh seeds and materials for the changing growing seasons. "I grew up in the projects when I was young, in what we now call food deserts," says EVE, one of the many celebrities who have teamed up with the organization to encourage people to pick up a free garden. "What I love about this is that it's not difficult. We are all able to grow something. "

Fall 2021 Story Contest

Our Fall Contest is open to all fiction and nonfiction writers. We're looking for short

stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, all forms of literary nonfiction, and excerpts (摘录) from longer works of both fiction and nonfiction. Entries (参赛作品) must be previously unpublished, no longer than 15, 000 words, and must not have been previously chosen a8 a winner, finalist, or honorable mention in another contest,

As always, we are looking for works with a strong narrative drive, with characters we can respond to, and with effects of language, situation, and insight that are intense and total. We look for works that have the ambition of enlarging our view of ourselves and the world.

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR WORKS.

Awards: First Prize is $ 2, 500, Second Prize is $ 1, 000, Third Prize is $ 500, and up to ten finalists will receive $ 100 each, All entries will be considered for publication.

Submission Fee: There is a $ 27 fee for each entry. With your entry, you'll receive three months of free access to Narrative Backstage.

All contest entries are qualified for the $ 4, 000 Narrative Prize and for acceptance as a Story of the Week.

Timing: The contest deadline is November 30, 2021, at midnight, Pacific standard time.