I hope to be many things in life, but the one thing I never want to be is perfect. Perfection does not exist. If it did, humans would have no room for improvement, growth, or discovery. Perfection creates more problems than it solves. It instills a harmful ideology into our minds that says that we are not successful unless we have achieved the maximum amount of success we can. Unrealistic expectations are the pitfall for failure. A pursuit of perfection can be potentially detrimental; one can so easily crack under the high demands and the pressure to be perfect.
As a chronic perfectionist, I can vouch that aiming for perfection is a futile feat. Working myself to death to achieve perfection has at times taken a toll on my wellbeing. Over-stress and lack of sleep became a regular thing, not to mention gnawing feelings of inadequacy when perfection was not achieved. The inevitable disappointment that comes when a perfectionist does not achieve perfection is crushing. It has taken some time, but I have finally realized that perfection is not real. Nobody can achieve it, and nobody should. Without failure, we would never learn to succeed. Perfection is nothing more than a pretty lie; it seems great in theory, but when you think about it, perfection is not realistic or beneficial.
We must realize that we make mistakes. We're nowhere near perfect, and as close as we may get, we never will be. Perfection is impossible, and trying to achieve it is like trying to climb a ladder that will never lead anywhere. You'll exhaust yourself and constantly feel like giving up, and when you think you're nearing toward the end of the ladder, you'll suddenly realize that the ladder has no end. The wise thing to do in life is aim for success but accept failure. Setting realistic goals for yourself while working hard to achieve them, all the while knowing that your best work is always adequate, is a sure-fire way to achieve something worthwhile. Not only will you find success, you will also find satisfaction and growth that came from working your way to the top and learning from your mistakes on the way. You will learn the value of hard work and determination, because you've come face-to-face with failure, accepted it, and moved on. You're not living your life in fear of imperfection, you're embracing every part of life.
Life is a bit messy sometimes, but we must learn to enjoy the mess. Trying to fix everything wrong with our lives will only lead to time wasted on an aspiration that can never be accomplished. That is not to say that we should never work for anything in our lives and just let life run its course. We should indeed continue to put forth a great amount of effort into all we do. However, we should never expect our efforts to lead to perfection. No matter how hard we try, perfection is not always attainable and that is completely fine. We should not need the validation of flawless success to assure us that we are achieving something worthwhile. Life has its ups and downs, no matter how hard we try to elude the negative aspects of life. Failure and difficult moments are the most important moments in our lives, because those are the moments through which we find who we are and how we can improve upon ourselves. Trying to deny failure as a natural part of life is similar to denying one's identity. We are defined by every moment in our lives that makes us who we are today. A "perfect" person cannot live a perfect life, because that person never overcame adversity or defeat and never had to force himself or herself to improve. Life is never constant, and if it were, people would be nothing more than robots living out a life that was previously programmed for them. Life is crazy at times, but it is nonetheless beautiful. Appreciate your flaws and shortcomings, because without them, you would not be half the person you are today. Celebrate your success and continue working to achieve everything you aspire to achieve, but do not be devastated when you inevitably fail at something. Accept failure and use it as an opportunity to learn rather than feeling discouraged and allowing it to impede on your future success.
