EP 306: Chasing Perfect Keeps the Eating Disorder Alive ~ Here's How to Break Free (Four Agreements Series ~ Part 4)

We made it, sis — the finale of our Four Agreements series. If you've walked through these with me — impeccable with your word, don't take it personally, don't make assumptions — I am so proud of you. Today we bring it all home.

And I saved my favorite for last, because this fourth agreement holds a word that means everything to me — it's literally the name of this show. The fourth agreement is: always do your best.

Not perfect. Your best. And by the end of today, I hope you feel the weight of perfection lift right off your shoulders — because chasing perfect is exactly what keeps the eating disorder alive, and your best? Your best is enough.

(New here? Go back to Parts 1–3 first — they build to this.)

This is the agreement that makes the others stick

This one comes last for a reason: it's the engine. Doing your best is what allows the other three agreements to become habits. You don't master speaking truth, releasing what others think, or dropping assumptions in a day — you do your best with them today, then again tomorrow, and slowly they become who you are.

This agreement isn't about knowing. It's about action. Because information isn't enough — doing your best is how the knowing becomes the living.

Not perfection — excellence

Doing your best is not being perfect. Perfect is a moving target that doesn't exist — and the eating disorder is obsessed with it, moving the goalposts so your best is never enough. Chasing perfect keeps the disorder alive, because perfect can never be reached, so you can never rest.

Your best is different. Your best is excellence — showing up, in alignment with your values, as fully as you can today. And here's the freeing part: your best won't always look the same. Your best in the morning is different than your best at night. Your best on a strong day is different than on a hard day. Both count. When you're exhausted, rest is your best. When you're depleted, nourishing yourself is your best. You're not failing when your best looks different — you're being human.

Your best includes rest and grace

Doing your best means rest. You'll be productive, yes — but you'll also be good to yourself and to others. The disorder's version of "your best" is grind, punish, earn, never stop. That's not your best, sis — that's self-abandonment in a productivity costume.