"It is OK to not be perfect." This is a phrase that so many people struggle with, whether it's self-image, a performance, a game, etc. Any athlete, musician, or even a person in general strives at least once in his or her life to amount to the standards the world seems to have set but feels as though the peak of those standards will never be reached because of the imperfections within his or herself. The biggest problem with striving to be perfect is that perfection does not exist. Being perfect is defined as "having all the required or desirable elements, qualities or characteristics," but there isn't a single thing in this world that doesn't have a flaw. Your goals and your motivations should be to make you a better person than you were yesterday, whether that is in your performance abilities or how you act as a person.

I am a Vocal Performance and Vocal Music Education Major. My whole life revolves around advancing my vocal technique. As a perfectionist, I want everything to be instantly correct the first time I try it. But that is impossible, and I need to be able to understand that. Strive for progress, not perfection. I have to practice and work on my technique for years. Even then, my technique will never be perfect. There will always be a way to better myself as an artist and a vocalist. In my private lessons, I tend to get frustrated when I try something several times and fail, so my professor will need to give me a pep talk on optimism. Even though I am an optimistic person, my passion for perfection can shut me down and change my outlook.

It seems that in today's society, it's all about having a thigh gap, being a certain a height, wearing a certain brand, etc. There are so many ridiculous standards that we try to meet because we see them advertised on television and on the covers of magazines. But when you take a step back and think, you should wonder why. Why is it so important for people to be thin? Why is it a requirement for people to be around 5'7"? Why do I have to wear Hollister over Faded Glory? The answer to all of these questions is that none of these standards should have ever been set. It is absurd to think that 7 billion people could all be the same.

Instead of trying to make your imperfections perfect, try to see perfection as the imperfections that make you who you are. At the end of the day, it is all a matter of perspective. It doesn't matter how much you weigh, how tall you are, or how good or bad you performed. It is how you see yourself and how you think you did.

"Perhaps it's our imperfections that make us so perfect..." —Jane Austen