For as long as I could remember, I strived for perfection. Everything I did had to be perfect, even the straightness of my hair. It was like I carried around a weight of an impossible to-do list of perfection around with me that was never going to get achieved. I strived for perfection for many reasons. The main reason why I strived for perfection was because of other people. I wanted everyone to like me and I wanted to fit in everywhere. At that point, I didn’t know how else to live my life because I had been trying so hard to impress others that I didn’t focus on what really mattered.

Many people struggle with perfection. We live in a world filled with people striving for it every day. I have yet to come across someone who hasn’t tried to be perfect or strive to be perfect at something. Perfection is just another struggle, we humans seem to face growing up and we feel the need to be accepted. If we are not accepted, then we feel like it is because we are less than another person, so we have to be more like them, because in our eyes they may be the definition of perfect.

In a book I have been reading it says “We’re drawn to perfection like a magnet,” and that statement is true because the idea of being free from all flaws and whatever else seems so great, but really who says that your flaws do not make you perfect? We are set up to think that the perfect girl looks like Kate Upton, but in reality, no one looks like that (well, other than Kate Upton). God makes us who we are for a reason. We are all so-called perfect in his eyes and that is a good enough reason for me.

In the same book, it also states “God knows that we’re tempted to try to be perfect so that we feel safe." The whole idea about us trying to be perfect because we are insecure about something within ourselves, and that is normal, but we do not need to feel that way, because God knows it is impossible for us to be perfect.

Everyone struggles with the concept of perfection. It is how this world is set up. I find myself watching people around me constantly trying to be perfect and it amazes me how many 18,19, 20 and 21-year-olds are still striving for perfection. I sit there and I think to myself, after 20 years, I can say perfection does not exist and there is no point in trying to be perfect because there is no such thing. It is 100 percent OK to not be perfect, and people need to realize that.

I will be the first to admit that I am not perfect and I have been trying to be for a very long time. I like who I am and who I am becoming to be. Everyone has to start somewhere, so if you are like many of us who strive for perfection—stop. There is no point, because you are already pretty awesome in your own way, and there isn’t anything else you can do to change that. We can also improve on who we are, but do not worry about being perfect for someone else, especially for a girl or guy. Whatever you do, do it for you, because in the end that's the only opinion that matters. I have learned that it is OK not to be perfect and I am not going to try and live up to every one’s expectations; and I am perfectly fine with that. In my book, I like who I am, and you should like you too.