My dog has a funny eye because he was born that way. My piano is covered in scratches and dents, but it was free. My guitar has a chunk taken out of it where I was rocking out too hard one night, and I whacked the wall.
I love my dog, my piano and my guitar. There is no other dog like mine, my piano is covered in love marks and my guitar has a story etched into it.
I too, have some scars on my body too from some operations, a dog bite, the time I cut myself open with a scalpel and the general remnants of being a stunt master.
It’s with these imperfections that we build and define character. We have a story to tell and we are differentiated from the human template. It makes us interesting, relatable and real.
Striving for perfection is a noble and important goal as it drives innovation, skill building and quality control.
However when we fail to achieve perfection, we are left with imperfection. That’s also an important and noble goal because it drives humility, acceptance, understanding and love.
Sadly, the world does not reward imperfection. In fact it berates it – and that’s why we live in fear.
In order to offset our fear, we create perceptive realities, tell lies, cheat, and play games. We compensate with toys, noise and the trappings of our perfected ideal, as a hopeful hook that we’re still in the game.
Despite the very public world we live in, it is still alarming to consider how many people still struggle with depression and anxiety because they feel they do not meet some social standard of perfection. It’s sad when you realise how common this pressure is in all of us, yet we can still feel so alone and isolated as if we are exploring an all-new depth of human introspection.
Our lives and world exist only in the realm of imperfection.
We are imperfect and beautifully flawed. In the animal kingdom, this has been necessary for evolution. If the universe were perfect, we would likely be just a black hole and not a constellation. I guess in a way, if we were perfect, we wouldn’t exist.
There’s nothing wrong with striving for perfection; it’s the hatred and fear of imperfection that needs to change.
Look around you; find comfort with the pile of laundry, the scar on your face, the due bill on the counter, the project that isn’t working out as planned, the dream you didn’t realise, and the doubts you have about who you are. It’s what makes you ‘normal.’
Keep striving for perfection by all means, but when you get home and take a breath, be so grateful for the imperfection that is your life.