Perfection- opinion article By: Svetina S.

 Perfection- opinion article

By: Svetina S.

“Make it exist first. You can make it good later.”

I often feel that we are stuck in a world where perfection is praised. It is set as an ideal yet unrealistic standard. Why do we encourage people to do something impossible? More importantly, how do some people achieve that impossibility?

They don’t. Rather, people chase the illusion of perfection, something that is reinforced even more by social media, where every image is perfectly edited and curated to idealize a human being to a god. It seems like many people don’t realize how easy it is to fake an entire lifestyle, and as a result people compare their ordinary lives to the best parts of other people’s lives. The worst part is, the best parts of other’s lives often aren’t even real, as AI, editing, and cosmetic surgery are becoming more prominent.

This intense focus around the “perfect” life can be discouraging. Speaking personally, I’m often unmotivated to start doing anything if I feel I won’t be good at it, and I’m sure that many others can relate. There’s the little voice in your head that says- “Stop doing this, you’re not good at it. Leave the art to the artists, leave the writing to the authors. Just be ordinary.” But how will you ever get good at anything if you don’t practice?

So more than an opinion article, I suppose this is also a sort of call to action. Be bad at things! Make ugly art, write bad poetry, sing off-key. Recognize the imperfection in perfection and do what makes you happy. Find joy in the action, not the result. In other words- live your life.