We live in a world where, for better or for worse, we are expected to strive for perfection. Just one look at the media shows us that the perfect body and a successful career are what matter in life. The "P" word, perfect, gets thrown around and plants its roots into the minds of the impressionable youth of the world.

I, like many other kids, was raised to value striving for perfection. It wasn't so much in the way that I looked, but in the way I performed in school and in extracurricular activities. The first memory I have of this, which I still vividly remember to this day, is getting an F on a book comprehension quiz in first grade and literally bawling my eyes out to the teacher because I thought my life was over. I was an idiot. If I didn't know it then, I sure do now: grades would mean everything to me until the day I graduated high school.

Now, I wouldn't say school was difficult for me. I was lucky enough to be one of the students who could apply themselves well and was able to get very good grades all throughout school. I was raised to think that anything less than an 85% was failure. This didn't mean my parents would punish me, though. I would punish myself. My parents were just happy that they had an intelligent daughter who liked school, whereas I saw myself as a complete and utter failure if I got a bad grade.

When I got to college I had a lot of time to think. I had nobody to impress but myself. I feel like I pushed myself so hard in high school because I thought I had to prove my intelligence to the 100 or so kids I grew up with that were in my graduating class. In college, I literally knew no one on my first day. I had a blank slate. Long story short, once I realized how different college was than high school, I began to accept the fact that I wouldn't get A's on every exam I took. I wouldn't be one of the smart kids. Striving for perfection was a complete waste of my time. What wasn't a waste of my time was striving for improvement. You see, perfection and improvement are drastically different concepts. When I stopped trying to be the best at everything I was able to concentrate more on the one or two things I was very good at and step away from wasting my time on something I was just average at. When you wake up every morning with goals in mind, it makes bettering yourself a heck of a lot easier.

It makes me sad when I see parents push their children to be perfect little dolls who are good at everything. Let kids be kids. Their interests will develop over time. Let them pursue those. Don't force your child into doing something they don't want to and then punish them for not being perfect at it. We all know the media glamorizes stories to make them more attractive to the audience. If we know this, then why do we still believe every little baby should look like North West? Seriously, take a step back and realize that the lessons you instill in your children will stay with them forever. They could be 35 with a successful career and kids of their own, but they will still think back on those times when they felt like they weren't good enough in the eyes of parents who expected perfection. Don't be that parent. Be the parent who focuses on improvement and praises it. Teach your kids to set goals and reward them when they achieve their goals.

If after all this you still dream of perfection, my advice to you would be to set your own standard of perfection. Maybe you don't have to be the next Beyonce, but you can still be successful in your own way. Have an open dialogue with yourself and be true to yourself, because in the end, you are your own biggest critic.