In today's day and age, perfection is the standard.

With everything you do, you must put 100% of yourself into it. Everyone strives for this social status of perfection. Whether it be academically, socially, or personally, people strive to be the best and to do the best in everything they do.

Ever since we were little, we were raised in a world that taught us that everyone is competition. We live in a culture that promoted the comparing of test scores with peers in classrooms with kids as young as eight years old. We have created a school system where class ranks are one of the main pieces of criteria used by high school and university admissions offices.

We always want to have that one highest grade. We wanted to be the kid with that one guy or girl that everyone wanted to be with. We wanted to be the one with the coolest car, the nicest house, the biggest pool, and the most awesome parents. We live in a world where everyone strives to fit this "Barbie and Ken" mold: this preconceived notion of perfection that doesn't even exist.

The most unfortunate reality of this circumstance is that people will do whatever it takes to attain this level of perfection. When talking about the physical aspect of perfection, you have people following unhealthy diets, going through plastic surgery, and altering who they are just to fit this "doll-like" mold of what the perfect guy or girl looks like.

This strive for perfection seems to be a product of our dissatisfaction with ourselves. Those who strive for the highest level of perfection seem to do it out of the darkest crevices of sadness, insecurity and depression. We have set these unrealistic expectations and standards for our population to strive for, but the reality is that these standards are unreachable. No one will ever constantly get the best grades, have the most attractive significant other, have the nicest house, or own the biggest pool. No one will have maintain the ability to constantly live and cherish this perfect lifestyle. Although your life might seem perfect at times, the reality is that everyone has that casual bump in the road every now and then.

Instead of complaining about what you don't have, cherish what you do have. Because even though not everything in your life might be perfect by society's standards, they can be deemed perfect by your standards.