Wake up world and stop chasing perfection. Can you imagine how much better our lives would be, how much less stressful they would be if we stopped worrying about perfecting every small detail? We spend more time worrying about what we look like and assuring every strand of hair is in the right place than where we are going and who we are going with. We worry too much about what color of crayon we have rather than appreciating our privilege to use crayons. Eventually, we get what we say we wanted more than anything, and yet, we push for more. I find that I am guilty of this final point in particular and it is bothersome.

It’s unbelievable how we can spend every waking moment hoping, praying, wishing for one specific thing, promising ourselves that this thing is all we need for happiness. If our wish comes true, we will be content in life and ask for nothing more. Then the day comes that that wish is granted and we are rewarded with something better than we were even asking for, but instead of being satisfied with our dream come true, we want more. Even though this thing is far better than we imagined, it has flaws and we want perfection. We cannot settle because we as children have been taught not to settle and to always shoot for the moon. Yet, in the next breath, we were told that perfection doesn’t exist. Society, that’s contradictory.

The truth of the matter is that perfection does not exist, not in food, not in art, not in music, not in people and certainly not in the world. Then, what classifies settling? I believe that settling is taking hold of what we can, what is available to us and not letting go. It is not attempting to advance and not keeping options open. Settling is choosing to go left or right and slamming the door of opportunity behind you. The opposite, however, is taking advantage of the opportunities that come your way and grasping onto new ones, better ones as you reach them. It is letting go of the old in order to embrace the new. The opposite of settling is having your whole heart finally invested in something, something that has brightened your world tremendously, something that is equally holding onto you, something you know you can’t live without.

I propose this question: if you woke up tomorrow and that something wasn’t in your life anymore, would you be able to brush it off and move on, or would your world feel much more empty now that it is gone? If you feel you could move one, then do. Move on to that something better, that something that hits the spot, that satisfies your soul. If you know your world would be a different place, a place you couldn’t hardly endure without that something, keep it and embrace it. Yes, that something has flaws, but so do you. I can bet that that something has more to offer than the previous option and all other options. Don’t complain about your red crayon because your favorite color is blue, because somewhere someone is wishing for half a crayon, half of what you have, to add color to their life.

In a world of imperfections, don’t get hung up on perfection. Perfection is impossible. Embrace your imperfections because imperfection is beautiful. Strive for beautiful.