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Fellow overachiever here! And so much sounds familiar to me, I am the youngest of 6 and I saw what my much older siblings were doing and really internalized that, even without my parents ever telling me I needed to do certain things. Looking forward to checking out the book as well, right up my alley.

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Thank you for this discussion. I felt like my mom perpetuated the same feeling of her own childhood which was once she did well academically, it was always expected. My twin and I were both high achieving perfectionists who got straight As until we went to college. I remember every time I ever got a bad grade on an assignment because I took criticism so personally. I can still remember papers where I got a C and getting Cs on my freshman year midterms in the spring semester. Even now 13 years later I am embarrassed to remember getting a C in Criminal Law- and my dad was a career criminal defense attorney! I figured out my study life and how to answer more bar exam style essays but failure is very difficult to deal with when being smart has been an integral part of identity.

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Excellent conversation with Dr. Gold! Perfectionism is tough, for the parent and the child. Great suggestions in here.

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