ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the pursuit of perfectionism, its consequential effect on fatigue and the resulting need to ration energy. The author has heard that the essence of being human is not to be perfect. During his treatment after the crash, he was told by his psychologist that trying to be perfect can be a very dangerous thing. Against the background of brain injury, perfectionism needed to be seen in a new light. His life could not be lived the way it was before with an almost binary view of the world. The pursuit of perfectionism did not seem to make sense for someone with compromised mental energy as to get the last bit completely right would take a disproportionate amount of time. From an objective perspective, the pursuit of perfectionism seemed to be a red herring, as fruitless as hunting for flying pigs. Now, perfectionism can be useful in some circumstances but self-destructive in others.
