With Victoria Secret Angels, Instagram showing young females who look better at 16 than we ever could have imagined, Magazines showing us what the ideal swimsuit body looks like, and how X or Y lost all that baby weight before they even gave birth, how can we not compare our own selves to what the media portrays as “perfect.”

Perfect. What is that anyway?

According to Google, perfect is defined as “having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.”

So why can’t perfect be, “the best we can be” ? That way we’re always trying to be better humans, healthier, kinder, and smarter. However, we’re not penalizing ourselves for not being the best of the best or as perfect as someone else. We are being as perfect as we can be at that moment. Maybe next year at that moment we’ll be a little more perfect than we were before, because we have reached some goal we set out for.

I know I wish I was stronger (i.e. muscle), and I haven’t been working as hard as I could be. I’m not as perfect as I could be. However, compared to last year, I’m in a much better place. I’m working to get there, even if it’s not exactly where I want to be, yet. Instead of saying, damn I wish I looked like her, I’m trying harder to say, ok how can I get to a better place where I will hopefully compare less. What do I need to do to get there. Food prep more, make more time for working out each morning/night, and putting my priorities above other ones that matter less (i.e. going out to dinner).

Being perfect is an illusion. It’s not what people say it is. It’s typically not even what we think it is. You have to craft your own perfect story for yourself.

And perfect, as they say in some movies/books, is typically what you never expected. It’s imperfect. It’s shades of what we thought it would be.

#radiatedaily

Image source: favim