Perfect isn't Perfect
Perfection is an infuriating concept to me. 'Perfect' is based on preference and opinion. When we 'strive for perfection', whose perfection are we aiming for?
My idea of self perfection is mental and emotional stability, physical health and strength, a home to return to after a day spent working on something I truly care about, and some friends and family to talk to and enjoy time with. But perhaps your perfect is more specific? More focused on gain? Less interested in home and more on travel? Who knows. There are a thousand variants of what perfect looks like! The reason I bring this up is that my fear - a lot having to do with the power of social media - is that people have begun to ignore their own sense of good and right in exchange for what the world tells us is perfect.
So I ask of you, when you're flipping through the pages of a magazine or scrolling through your IG feed on your phone, be aware of what's influencing you, and why. Are you being encouraged to be the best version of yourself or are you simply being influenced to buy more, diet more, and fear more, all in the pursuit of airbrushed, money-hungry, impossible so-called perfection?
You are so strong. You're living in a world over-saturated with people, opinions, influences (both bad and good), options, offers, and standards and yet there you are... your own self, in a sea of others. You like the color turquoise, but not turquoise jewelry, you've re-read Harry Potter eight times, you put brown sugar in your tea, and you're scared of moths. You say y'all but you're not from the south, you put ranch on your pizza, you never wear matching socks and your ponytail always leans to the left. You are you, apologetically so. And that, to me is perfect. Are you content with your life? Are you health? Can you make a friend smile when they're having a bad day? Yes? Then you have no need for the stress, the pressure, the anxiety that I know comes from wanting to do and be everything perfect.
Perfect isn't possible. Not the perfect that advertisements and get-rich-quick scams talk about. That perfect will drive you mad with insecurity, anger, and worry. That perfect will tear the beauty - your unique beauty - right out of your being. I say to you, let us see the struggle and the sad, because it will make us value the happy and the strong. Be true to who you are and who you want to be, keep fighting for health and happiness, keep loving those around you, keep loving yourself. That, in my eyes, is as perfect as perfect can be.
