When I thought about perfection, several things came to my mind, ranging from being a student who gets approving marks, completing assignments on time to maybe even a nice job with a pleasing salary.
These thoughts are of a student who has just started university. They may change. Perhaps in the future, these expectations will rise or maybe they won’t, who knows? A simple job may not please everybody. Someone would find pursuing their art a better career option, and perhaps somebody else would want to pursue an unconventional occupation. So, anything is possible.
If everything is so uncertain, why do we have to set a standard to chase perfect things? Why do we think that ‘being busy 24/7’ is so desirable, like who wants to be exhausted ALL THE TIME?
Personally, I am the kind of individual for whom this pandemic worked a little differently. While many were seeking to be productive in different aspects of life, I was losing my will to do ANYTHING. I lacked the motivation to even try to do something I knew I was good at. I would often lose track of time. It was equivalent to being in a time loop — wake up, while away my time doing nothing and go to sleep.
Things started getting back on track. Schools and colleges began reopening, and everything was ‘normal’ again. But did I become ‘normal’? No.
Everything seemed like a burden. I was unable to process things that were once easy for me. It’s been months since the normal routine returned and I have been trying hard to get back on track but it still gets tough sometimes, you know?
The way you feel when you look around and find EVERYONE busy doing something or the other. Someone has an internship, somebody is trying to enrol into something they are interested in and there you are, with nothing but just a lousy excuse of a pandemic in your hand.
But why? Why isn’t ‘not-being-okay’ a good enough reason?
Everyone grieved about someone or something while being stuck in such hard times. Rather than feeling poor about how people had no problem moving on in comparison to you, you should be proud to have survived through this pandemic, that you came back!
I was hoping to make changes in my life but now find myself stuck between my past and my future with my present slipping away. Sometimes, it seems as if I’m waking up from a nightmare and that the pandemic has been a hallucination because everywhere I look it seems like nothing has happened at all.
It is no less than living in a fantasy world where everybody is supposed to move on after their lives were just turned upside down; where everything they had accomplished was turned into dust.
Why are we perceived as crazy for not moving on in life from things? Everyone around us has turned back into normalcy but why haven’t we? What is wrong with those who feel the post-pandemic trauma?
It’s simple. We are mere human beings and not machines. Our surroundings affect our productivity.
Try imagining a world where perfection doesn’t exist. There’s no ‘society’ to tell you that your dreams don’t fit the criteria of being perfect. Imagine that the definition of ‘perfection’ has vanished from this world. Nothing would be perfect yet people would strive to make things better. It’s exactly how we function right now. What would be different is the lack of burden that comes along with chasing perfectionism in everything we do.
Similarly, do you know who has the ability to turn everything around them into something more beautiful? YOU DO.
It is you who has the power to make positive changes in everything that surrounds you. Understanding we are not perfect just takes away the hesitation of actually implementing these changes.
I’m not perfect, this article isn’t perfect but the only message I wish to convey to anybody who is reading this is that no matter who tries to put you down for being yourself, never stop setting your dreams and plans below someone else’s opinion.
Set boundaries before people and live life YOUR way. This life has innumerable beautiful and astonishing things to offer and in return, it only asks for dedication, hard work and sheer will to try your best. If things get difficult, stop. Take a deep breath. Think about why you actually choose this path and just keep going. Persist until you find what you desire. I believe in you.