19 July 2022

You will probably have noticed how everyone is striving to be perfect on the Social Media platforms these days. Suddenly you can’t post a selfie without at least one filter to take away that facial wrinkle or go out for dinner without showing your well-presented dish of food. Even your animals have to look perfect in everyday life in that one hit photo taken while playing with them. 

What would happen if you just decided to take a step away from all the competition, all that clamoring for likes and hearts? What if you chose to suddenly enjoy your life without sharing it with the world? Here is how you can reclaim your life and be happier in order to have a more fulfilled life while living with all of that ‘natural imperfection’ that people are trying to hide online in the social media world.

1.     Stop Judging 

You can decide right now to stop analysing other people, looking for what is wrong with their face or their body or their life choices. Refocus your attitude, so you stop seeing a difference as a flaw but as merely something that makes that person unique and special in their own way. 

Just let go of the urge to criticise others, and you will notice a flow-on effect on how you see yourself as well. 

2.     Accept Your Imperfection 

Wanting to be the best version of you? I will tell you this - it isn’t the same as being a perfectionist. A perfectionist is never happy with who they are, how they look, or how they are doing in the world. Being your best means you work hard, you try, and you don’t give up. Failure will creep in from time to time – but hey, that is life. You learn from mistakes – not from perfectionism. This doesn’t mean you blame yourself when things aren’t perfect, and you don’t take failure personally when failure happens. 

3.     Relax and Enjoy the Process 

Perfectionists tend to trip over every little detail and allow imperfections to spoil their lives. When you embrace imperfection as a natural part of life, it frees you up and you can then enjoy the ride. 

Obstacles become challenges that make life more enjoyable and get you to push yourself to your personal limits. You can slow down and notice all the good things there are in your life as you push and grow through your life. If there is no growth in life on a personal level, then you become more like a boat taking on water.

4.     Adopt Imperfection as a Way of Life 

Once you front up and make peace with imperfection, you can be a lot more objective about life. Your perspectives changes, and what once seemed overwhelmingly important suddenly doesn’t matter so much. All experiences become just another aspect of a life lived richly, that build the person you are continually becoming to this day. 

Imperfection stops being something to avoid at all costs. Think about it like this: perfection implies stasis, something you achieve and have to tend. It’s fragile and vulnerable. It puts an end to growth. And then what? You don’t want to stop learning and growing and developing, do you? Embracing imperfection means there’s always an opportunity to learn and grow and become a better person. 

Ongoing personal growth is something every person should tend to in their lives like one would if they were growing a vegetable garden. You need the seed (the desire to achieve something) to germinate that then becomes the growing plant (like working towards the goal). The plant (or goal) then moves into a time of havest (when you get to see the success from the work done by you) and you then reap from what you have sown (or achieved). Over time you repeat this process and with this, imperfection is adopted as a way of life and not merely seen as something that needs filtering in order for the world to accept you.