There are times you are going to fail in life.
If that sentence sent your stomach into a full speed plummet to the tips of your toes, or if you read that as anything but a completely true statement there are chances you and I suffer the same fatal flaw: perfectionism. Yes, you read that right, I said flaw. If you are like me this is also something you view as far from a true statement. Well from one perfectionist to another, let me tell you that college is a place a perfectionist's dreams come to die.
By this, I do not mean to say that your literal dreams will die in college, but rather the idea that you will achieve these flawlessly and or effortlessly. But fret not! This is not actually a bad thing. In college, I have learned (time and time again) that regretfully, the things in life that really matter are never going to go your way initially. If they did, you would never realize the importance of these lessons and or achievements. In high school when talking about classwork or clubs the word "challenging" was not exactly on the tip of my tongue. Coming to college, challenging wasn't even a big enough word to describe my Freshman fall semester. But despite all of these things, my downfall was my greatest achievement.
In learning that I wouldn't get everything I interviewed for, or that four hours of consecutive studying could still warrant a B, I began to lose the weight that had held me down for so long. Instead of avoiding applications I seemed to stand no chance for I began to pursue positions with a stronger and fixed determination. My achievements stopped being things I took part in simply because I thought that's what the successful people of college did, but instead because of my own passions to do so and make a difference. I stopped avoiding classes that seemed could prove a threat to my blemish free GPA, and looking towards classes that I cared about and wanted to take. It wasn't just about getting an A now, it was about learning and pursuing the things that mattered to me and would shape me as a person.
So if you're reading this and you are like me, let go. To stay fixed on perfection is to stay stagnant. No growth can be cultivated when hidden behind fear. Not in just academics, but in all aspects of life. Do not let the fear of not having the perfect body keep you from flaunting your favorite shorts. Do not let your two left feet hinder you from dancing to your favorite song. Do not let the idea that you must be perfect keep you from becoming who you are meant to be. Being "perfect" is in its own sense a limit, live beyond it.
