For many years of my life I tried to be perfect. Perfect by my standards, not yours. Perfection to me meant a lot of things, good looks, wealth, expensive clothes, good looking well to do man, etc etc. I now know why those things defined perfection to me, because they were so far from what I grew up with. But here is what I have learned; get ready it's deep...lol
If perfection is your goal (regardless of your definition of perfection) give it up. The goal of perfection is usually lethal because it is never met. Then the feeling of failure sets in and causes extreme personal pain because we are always comparing ourselves to how we could be if we were perfect. I read something once that said "Perfection rapes the soul". I did not understand it then, I do now. Perfection does not allow for true feeling, it's a plan that will always fail. You miss a lot of good stuff trying to be perfect. Instead of feeling you are always struggling for that goal.
When we are very young (and naive) it is easier to always try to be better than we are. When we are older it gets harder to be who we are and accept that this is probably it, as good as it gets. I have a theory though, if we were to just accept that this is who we are there might be far greater happiness. To just live in the present and stop trying to change all the time, I'm guessing the pressure that would be released would be a wonderful experience.
I wouldn't know I'm not quite there, it's just a theory...
Malicious Extrapolation
9 years ago
Posts
I totally agree. We spend so much of our lives "TRYING". Trying to get the best ___, to be the best ____, to own the best ___. But each time we reach a goal, we move the goal line further away.
ReplyDeleteAll our lives everyone tells us to better ourselves, to reach out and become the best you can be. But no one really says how you know when you reach "it" and how the hell to stop! lol
I don't want to spend my life on a treadmill called "goals." I want a chance to enjoy the life I'm living now.
But to give up the struggle for perfection means having to accept ourselves and our lives for what they are. That is something most people are not willing to do because they are not happy being themselves in their life.
ReplyDeleteHowever there is a huge difference in trying to be a better person, living a better life, and trying to be perfect. In trying to always be perfect you will be sure to be disappointed all the time. But in trying to be a better person, living a better life, you will constantly be excited and pleased with yourself and your life when good things are drawn to you.