Are you suffering from the curse of the good girl? Rachel Simmons reveals the high cost of having impossible standards.Eighteen-year-old Becca* seems to have it all: Gorgeous looks, athletic skills, smarts, more friends than she... Are you suffering from the curse of the good girl? Rachel Simmons reveals the high cost of having impossible standards.
Eighteen-year-old Becca* seems to have it all: Gorgeous looks, athletic skills, smarts, more friends than she can handle, a sassy sense of humor, and--to top it off--a genuinely nice personality. Last year, though, when she started getting Bs on her English papers, Becca panicked. "If something in my life isn’t perfect, I freak out," she explains, "I try to pretend that everything doesn’t have to be exactly the way I want it, but if it can’t be perfect, I won’t give it any effort." Intimidated and anxious, she stopped trying in class. "I would turn in bad work just because I was afraid of failing."
Like a lot of girls today, Becca has a persistent belief that she has to be perfect 24-7. When she isn’t, ruthless self-criticism kicks in. It’s the curse of the good girl, the pressure many teens feel to hold themselves up to standards that are impossible to reach: to be friends with everyone, nice all the time, flawless at schoolwork, completely selfless, all while looking polished and pretty.
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