Perfectionism - A great place to hide

I've been thinking a lot about the quest for perfection lately. As a mom and wife, I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that there is no way I can be perfect in this job. As an ER nurse, I don't know that I can ever be perfect, but realistically I can't allow myself to be far from it, not when someone's life may depend on how well I can do something. So that leaves my lampworking, and that's where it gets really hard. I have a tendency to look at my work and find all the flaws in it, without being able to see the beauty of what I've created. Sometimes I wonder if this is not really a way of trying to take the easy way out for me. After all, if I look at something and find all the tiny flaws and reject it based on that, I never have to put that piece out for the public to see and potentially expose myself to criticism.

I recently posted pictures of a set and a focal on Lampwork Etc., my favorite lampworking forum, with the question "Am I being too picky?". The set I had held on to for several months because "the colors were different"

The focal I had just finished but, "The stem was not straight"

Basically the response to my questions was a resounding "Hell yes, you are way to picky!" or in other words "Get out from under your rock, face the world and be brave about it" It's so easy to just look at something and pass it off as "crap" and that way we never have to take the chance that it/we will be rejected by others. Being willing to post your work in front of the world and ask for opinions is what takes courage, and selling on Ebay or Etsy is basically just that. I think that too often we allow buyers to validate our work by bidding on it and buying it, and we let ourselves believe that if something does not sell it must be because the work itself is bad. I know I did not become a lampworker to make money, I did it because I was and still am fascinated by the idea of taking glass and fire and creating something beautiful. The fact that I can sell some of my work to support my habit should just be a bonus. It's important to keep sight of the fact that we are human and not machines, and as such, nothing we make will be totally "perfect", that's part of what makes art art. So be brave, come out from under the rock and let others see what you do, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Oh, and the 2 pieces I did not think were "good enough" - they both sold on Ebay the first time they were listed.