Learning to accept and be at peace with your flaws, while still actively trying to improve as a human being is one of the most freeing feelings in the world.

I have lots of flaws. We all do. It's part of being human and part of living. You cannot reap the rewards if you are not willing to take the risks, and part of taking risks involves failing some times.

I'm afraid of butterflies.

I run off too few hours of sleep during the school year and have stayed up to watch the sunrise after having troubles falling asleep for that long.

I say sorry too much.

I'm overwhelmingly sarcastic and really bad at dancing.

I get sunburned within seconds of being outside and trip over nothing daily.

My forehead is rather large and one of my legs is longer than the other.

I struggle to raise the volume of my voice and let others push me around too much.

And I'm seemingly ridiculously unlucky. I was once voted "Most likely to win the lottery and lose the ticket. I got my phone wet, placed it in a bag of rice, and then a piece of rice got stuck in the charger port. I hung a hammock up only for it to fall out of the tree with me and another person in it. I wish I could say that's my worst hammock experience.

I'm not perfect and I'm not even "perfectly imperfect."

Neither are you. We're all a little messed up in our own ways and that doesn't make us perfect. But it is OK.

I won't fall for any of the cliche phrases being preached to me that 'I don't ever need to change.' It's unrealistic to expect that you will be the same person every day for the rest of your life. If you want to grow, you have to change.

You have to acknowledge and accept your flaws, then prioritize which ones you should aim to work on.

I'm afraid of butterflies, but it hasn't affected any of my relationships with other people, nor has it held me back in my life in any way shape or form. Sure, it's kind of pathetic, but it's fine.

But I could work on getting more sleep.

I am and have been working on apologizing less for quite some time. I do try to hone in on when it is appropriate to use sarcasm and when I should refrain.

I do know that my poor dancing skills have made quite a few of my friends laugh quite a bit, so I'll forever be a bit off rhythm, and I'm content with that.

I can't change the fact that I am Irish and fair-skinned which means all I can do is apply lots of sunscreen and hope for the best. I've tried to stop being so clumsy, but trust me I've come nowhere close to succeeding in such a large goal.

I can't alter what I look like inexpensively, and frankly, I don't care enough to change my physical flaws.

I do work on projecting my voice and standing up for myself when I deem necessary.

But I remain a little unlucky, quite possibly because the universe is playing to my good sense of humor and helping me maintain my humility.

My point is, you have to examine your flaws. What holds you back? What can you change?

If you can change it, it's OK to work on improving yourself and it's OK to change. You owe no one an explanation as to why you aren't the same exact person you were a few years ago, as long as you've grown for the better.

If you can't change it, LET IT GO.

Count your blessings more often than you count your shortcomings. Know who you are and learn to be at peace with whoever that is. Don't buy into every cliche phrase you see.

I'm not perfect. I'm unlucky, clumsy, an insomniac, sarcastic, a pushover, quite possibly the palest person on the planet, severely lacking in rhythm and irrationally afraid of bugs with large wings.

That doesn't make me perfect, it makes me kind of a weirdo when it comes down to it. But the important thing is that I'm content with the weirdo I am.