Perfectly Imperfect
Cathy Miller
Publisher : Old Lady Biz Publishing
Publication date : October 13, 2025
Memoir
Language : English
Print length : 97 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8993352909
*** SYNOPSIS ***
Does your bias bully hammer at your soul?
Cathy Miller thought of herself as a positive person. But then life challenges snagged the hand of her built-in bias bully to bring her down. Feeling like a fat, old, negative lady, Cathy knew she needed a drastic change.
Why not walk 60 miles in 3 days?
One weekend while sitting at a stoplight, Cathy watched a long stream of walkers making their way down the coast of southern California. She later learned they were walking to raise breast cancer awareness.
When her own sister was diagnosed with breast cancer, Cathy knew she had to get off the couch and join the sixty-mile, three-day walk. Little did she know how life-changing the event would become. Over two decades later, Cathy cannot walk away.
Even good people have built-in biases.
Cathy discovered how those biases influence what we feel and do. Perfectly Imperfect identifies seven common biases through Cathy’s personal 3-Day experience and the remarkable stories others shared along the way.
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*** REVIEW ***
First a disclaimer. I’ve known Cathy Miller for several years after we met on Twitter, now X. We’ve never met in person because she lives in Idaho and I’m in Texas, but we keep in touch and have joked about possibly being cousins. Even though we have this connection, that didn’t influence this review. There are other authors I’ve met on social media, or even in person at an event, and bought their book only to find it lacking. When that’s been the case I simply pass on doing a review as I can’t honestly promote a book that is poorly written.
That wasn’t the case when I received a copy of Perfectly Imperfect, Cathy Miller’s memoir chronicling her participation in an annual event to raise money for research for a cure for breast cancer. The 3-Day Walk for the Cure, is a 60 mile walk over 3 days that’s held in different parts of the country, and Cathy started walking in San Diego, then San Francisco. Ever since I learned about this, I’ve found her efforts inspiring. She’s soldiered on with injuries, like ripping off the toenail on her baby toe, to coming head on to limitations when she discovered early on that she was unconditioned for that kind of physical activity.
In this book, she relates some of the things that she’s learned in the years that she’s been participating in this event. It’s written with honesty and her special brand of sardonic humor, that she also uses to good effect in her business and personal blogs at Old Lady Biz. She takes many jibes at herself for behaviors and concepts that she lived by; such as biases, “Biases are like a comfortable pair of jeans. We slip into them without thinking about trying a different look. I walked by that mirror for years without looking.”
She credits her years of walking and listening to the stories of people that she’s met for helping her to become a little better person; changing attitudes about herself and others. Three of the main lessons she learned, as illustrated throughout the book are:
“Accept myself first.”
“Appreciate the uniqueness of others.”
“Change my narratives on unconscious bias.”
The title, Perfectly Imperfect, is, well, perfect for this chronicle of those life-changing moments while walking with a diverse group of people. The more I contemplated the title, I thought that in a way it could be inverted and be Imperfectly Perfect to represent the many women and men who’ve dealt with breast cancer, or any other cancer. They’ve had parts of their bodies removed; had their world turned upside down as they deal with the anxiety and fear and anger that this all brings. Still, while their body might be altered they are perfect. Their hearts, their essence as people, is the same as when they were whole, and they are ever so worthy of love and support.
That kind of love and support comes through in this book and we meet some of these perfect people like the 16 year old girl who does the walk with her best friend, both dressed in a pink prom dress because breast cancer invaded her body and caused her to miss her high school prom. Her story is celebrated by Cathy, as are all the other stories, and it was a joy to meet the people she encountered.
This is a heart-warming little book that is easy to read, full of hope and humor, and delightful people.
I highly recommend the read.
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*** ABOUT THE AUTHOR ***
Cathy Miller spent over thirty years as a professional business writer in both the corporate setting and as a small business owner. Her love of storytelling blossomed into her debut memoir that recounts her two-plus decades of participation in the sixty-mile, 3-Day Walk for the Cure. Cathy also writes at her blog, OldLadyBiz, where she celebrates the joys of reading, writing, and walking (lots of walking)
LINKED IN ** AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE ** TWITTER/X
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Please come back on Wednesday to learn more about Cathy in her guest post.