"You are imperfect, permanently and inevitably flawed. And you are beautiful."
- Amy Bloom
Perfection is everyone’s goal, but I believe that everyone is having a ridiculously hard time to achieve that goal, including me. Whether it to be our careers, looks, education or talents, so it’s no wonder so many people feel like failures when they face the inescapable truth which is perfection is illusory at best. I believe that many fail to see is the beauty in imperfections, the opportunity for growth that comes after falling down and the strength that thrives after pain.
Sometimes we get so set on this distorted expectation of how life should be that we lose sight of all that is already is. We set standards for ourselves so high that when we inevitably fail to reach them, our whole world comes crashing down around us. We spend too much time reaching, having faith that things will hold up our sense of purpose. We spend countless days chastising our every downfall and wrong decisions that we become blind to what power and magnificence lies within our beings. We forget to stop reaching and to start being. I actually wish that we would focus on our present state of being, who we currently are, and all.
And I've also realized that the more time I spend milling over my past, the more time I lose creating and revealing in my present. Life doesn't come with an eraser, but nothing lacks hope unless you give up. Each piece of my past has somehow been puzzled together and that create my present life. Some of those pieces may have been flawed, yet they have somehow formed into a beautiful whole. We seem to always look at the missteps, the things we never planned on and the paths we didn't want to take. We also tend to overlook the imperfections that entered our life that were so beautiful. It's life that is full of imperfections, the imperfections that you are never told when you are a child.
I've learned that every mistake has reminded me of my imperfect ways and brought to the forefront areas I need to pay more attention to.
I've now learned to never take for granted my darkest times because the cracks let the light through and lit up my darkest times. We aren't here to be perfect, but we're here to puzzle all our cracks and scars into the most beautiful, imperfect humans we can be. Because I believe that an easy and beautiful life doesn't always make an easy beautiful person. And I also believe that imperfections shouldn't give negative feelings, imperfections can be freeing and they can provide the uniqueness which our lives need.
I no longer wish to be perfect or to lead a life that is free from trials and mistakes, but I'll lead my life with a heart over-flowing with love, humility and compassion, a tongue that knows when to speak and when to be silent and a mind of forgiving others as well as myself. I'm still learning to appreciate all that I'm and recognize my shortcomings without allowing them to possess my every thought, to face conflicts with an open mind and also willingness to grow and gain courage from them.
We can't keep waiting for perfect. We have to settle into what's beautiful and what's waiting to be recognized. It’s the only way we’ll be able to move forward and the only way we won’t always feel like we need to.
