The constant strive for perfection and how society is a bitch.

Well that's how I will eloquently phrase my topic today. The constant strive for perfection and how society is a bitch. I'll start ranting now.

So perfection is defined as; the state of being without flaw or defect. Thank you dictionary but that concept doesn't truly exist in our reality. Everything that is made has a flaw of some sort yet is still able to function just fine so why do people still reach for the unattainable? I'll tell you why, society (and the media is evil). Society fills your head with preconceived notions that yes there is a thing such as perfect and that if you bend yourself to the will of these notions and give into the pressures of society that you will attain this perfection while losing yourself on the way. Why would people subject themselves to such torment? Well that's because we care too much. It's the major problem. What happens when you value the opinions of others much more highly than you own voice that you live for the approval of others. Say you're asian (and yes I will stereotype here) and you're approaching a critical stage in your life, VCEs or whatever secondary school certificate you have in your state. You being asian have grown up having the best expected from you by your parents and you being constantly compared to every single relative in your age group must do well or risk being disowned or bringing shame to your family. Now that's a pretty big expectation to live up to and because you don't want to disappoint your parents and risk being the laughing stock of your extended family take it upon yourself to fulfill that expectation and their expectation is for you to be better than everyone else in the family, to be the perfect child. So you study so much you almost go insane and cram as much knowledge into your cranium as possible before the exam (and if you are a smart one you won't leave it to the last minute). So you do the exam and you think you did pretty well and are proud of yourself that is until you get the results back. You get 98.95. Now you're totally happy with it until you look at your parents and see the upset look on their faces. They tell you that your cousin got 99.75 then proceed to lecture you about why you didn't get a higher score and how much better your cousin is and why your cousin is better. Now just because of that one reaction you could either a) push yourself even harder to the brink of insanity or b) you let yourself go so badly because hey you failed them once you aren't going to try again just as hard just to be shot down. So that is how caring too much is bad. Sorry for the dramatic asian example. It just came to mind.

Some people want to attain perfection because they want to be the envy of others or because they want to be seen in a certain way. It can become so intense that it brinks on self mutilation or harm. They just get so engrossed in the perfect image in their head that it becomes their driving force in life and that they can not function properly because of this unrealistic expectation they have of themselves.

I speak from personal experience of watching my friends put themselves through too much trying to be better than they already were. Why does this need for perfection really stand out in women? As I respect women for who they are and not for what they look like I find it hard to watch when people I care about exhibit this self destructive behaviour of putting themselves through so much just to change this one little thing about themselves that didn't make a differenc in the first place but because some stupid jerk or bitch said something to them they become hell bent on changing it. I admit I can be a jerk at times but that's only when someone else has an unsavoury personality. I can't stand bye watching you disrespect someone for some petty little thing like the type of clothes they wear. If you don't like it then get lost no one wants you here being a douche. Anyway back to my point. I've seen countless times when my friends become so self conscious because someone said one little thing about their appearance. I don't like superficial people. If you're going to stand there and tell her all the things wrong about the way she looks I'll stand here and tell you all the things you're not seeing. You say she's a little chubby, I say you obviously think being a stick is more attractive than being healthy. You say she's got a bad taste in clothes, I say you clearly only judge a person on their outward appearance and not for their personality. The clothes they wear are an expression of themselves. You say she's ugly, I say you don't know the meaning of beauty if you can't look past the outer layers. She's beautiful in her own right and I'm not just saying it because I'm her friend or because I may 'like' her but because I'm a decent human being. I may have gone a little off tangent there but hey it's my blog.

All I really think is that you should follow the beat of your own drum and not be sucked in and spat out by what other people say or think. Perfection isn't one of those things you can reach and anyway it's your imperfections that make you the person you are and what makes you so likeable in the first place. So don't try to be perfect, there's no such thing. There's just you and that's just fine. Who needs perfect anyway? I don't, I have you.

So another rant for me the Illogical Thinker. I think I may have gone overboard but oh well. Many thanks to my friend Chocolate Cake, I heart you :) Until the next post, Ciao!

P.S. The media is evil. PEACE!