Freedom and Maturity

I GUESS IT WAS TIME for me to re-examine the Seventh Step: "Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings." I wasn't making much headway; I was going backwards, and becoming very discouraged about it. Because, you see, I had no clear conception of what I was doing. I actually thought the Step implied a goal of perfection which I believed impossible to achieve, but one that I should try to reach. When my many abortive attempts to perfect myself had failed (as they were bound to do) I sank back deeper into the very defect I should have avoided--guilt.