This isn't going to be another article that says something to the effect of "stop comparing yourself to what you see on social media because no one is perfect." We've all heard that, and I think we all have a fundamental understanding that we only present our best selves for the public to see, but if the strategy of telling us that worked, we shouldn't have to keep doing it.
Instead, this article is going to be quite the opposite. No one wants to read about how no one has it together anymore. I think everyone understands that now. But, is it possible that in saying that it's okay to not have it all together, we have sold ourselves short? Think about it. We all came to college for one reason or another, but when did it become okay to blame our own personal shortcomings on the fact that we are college students? We all know that perfect doesn't exist. We all know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We all know that we have different interpretations as to what "perfect" even means. However, it's almost as if in saying that no one is perfect or has it all together that we encourage it.
Let's stop with the complacency. Maybe we can't be perfect, but that doesn't give us a pass to be destructive. So, let's do our best work, put our best foot forward, and live our best lives. We can constantly improve ourselves. So, let's stop using "I'm a college student, of course, I don't have my life together" as an excuse to sleep until 3:00 p.m. Let's stop using that as an excuse to be reckless. Let's stop using that as an excuse to not go to class.
What's going to happen when we all graduate? The habits we form not are the habits we will keep the rest of our lives. I'm not saying that we have to be perfect, but what I am saying is that we don't hold high enough standards for ourselves. It's okay not to be perfect because no one is. What's not okay is encouraging complacency, laziness, and bad habits. All too often it seems we hear, "I didn't go to class today because it's syllabus week and I don't care LOLOLOLOL."
Believe me, I do get it. I know it's really hard to get it together sometimes. Maybe what we need is that final little push to say "Hey. You don't have to be perfect, but you do have to be better than what you are right now." So the next time things become too hard for us to bear, let's all remember that what we do now does matter.
We don't have to be perfect but we do have to do our best.
