I was scrolling through my social media feed recently and stopped at a friend’s post who was getting down on herself. She called herself out on it, which is a positive step, identifying the negative behavior and attempting to correct it, but it reminded me of my journey and how many years I internally beat myself up for not being perfect, or whatever the idea of perfection was in my mind. As far back I can I remember I always thought of myself as less than. I looked around me and thought everyone else was better and had it easier than I did. I know now, as an adult, that everyone has their own struggles, and no one is perfect.
What is perfection anyway? Perfection is subjective and it means something different to everyone. What may be perfect for you may be anything but perfection for me. But what is important is our own concept of perfection, and the standard to which we hold ourselves to it. Life, as I have learned, is about making mistakes, that’s where we learn the most, and it’s through those failures that we build our successes. But perfection can bleed into all aspects of your lives, not just our success, it can be turned toward our bodies and appearance. There is certainly an ideal that the media, fashion and beauty industry puts out, one that is not real or even attainable, as someone who worked in that industry I know how much of what we see every day is photoshopped and doctored so that even the people we see in those images don’t look like the image portrayed in life. So, how do we let go of an unrealistic ideal and learn to love ourselves? Acceptance, and knowing that we are all meant to be unique and different from one another. That’s what makes life interesting, think about how boring it would be if we all looked and behaved the same. This life we live is meant to be a journey, it’s meant to have its ups and downs and we are meant to slip and fall and get back up again, it’s how we build our strength and character, and, we are all meant to look different from one another and are beautiful in that difference. There is beauty in all of us when we look, act and feel like our authentic selves.
Embrace who you are and work on those areas that might need some work, but what you can’t change surround with love, celebrate and find joy within it. Our imperfection is our perfection and when we learn to accept and grow from that place that is when we truly flourish and learn to be who we are meant to be. Find your own perfect and make it you.
SLAY OF THE DAY: Do you tend to beat yourself up because you are not your idea of perfect? How do you do this? What is not perfect for you? Are these things you can change or improve? How so? If not, why do you find it difficult to accept them? Why do you think they are so bad? How can you become more loving around them? How can you turn them into something you love? What makes you uniquely you? Do you celebrate those things? What else can you celebrate about yourself? We are all meant to be imperfect, we are meant to learn, to grow, to work to change what we can to feel great and succeed in our lives, the work is the journey and the journey is a lifelong adventure. Love yourself along the journey, throw out the map of perfection you thought you had to follow and set your own course to your own idea of perfect.
S – self L – love A – appreciate Y – you
State Of Slay™ 