I like how everyone is continuing to share their thoughts. <3 I want to clarify what I mean by perfectionism being toxic. I admire people who work hard. I just think that perfectionism is significantly different from working hard, having goals, being detail-oriented, or having high standards. To me, perfectionists have irrational standards to the extent that they are always disappointed, and under no circumstances will they ever think that they did something well. If it's not perfect, it's not done "well", so it becomes a bit toxic. For example, even if they win a sports competition, win best in industry awards for their job, or become valedictorian at school, they'll make excuses and explain/think they still did a bad job and at best will only confess to doing okay-ish. For people who are perfectionists, I feel like it's easy to win something and then say, "Well, actually I didn't do a good job and I wish that X, Y, and Z..." which then may have a negative domino effect on those who didn't even do as well. High achievers who are perfectionists or overly modest have a tendency to be mood-killers because they don't allow much space for other people (who are not as skilled or who are beginners) to take pride in or feel happy about their own achievements.
I like it when people are openly happy and proud of their work (or at least not encouraged to feel ashamed), because it's better when people can honestly hype one another up and give tips instead of fostering an environment where everyone is scared to show what they've created or feeling bad because they know it won't be perfect. Growth is relatable and it's good to let things out into the world if those things have been given a rational amount of effort even if they're not 100% (because they will never be 100%). Most people get better by doing and by experimenting with different things, so I hope that those who like SimLit will keep making it and not feel discouraged even if it's not up to their standards at first. Readers also get different things out of our stories and everyone has a unique story, so even if there's a typo or the framing of an image isn't quite right, it's okay and a lot of people won't even notice. We can always try to improve on our mistakes next time.
