I heard this phrase today, “the courage to be imperfect,” and for some reason, it stuck with me.

How much time in life do we spend worrying about being perfect in all we do?  How often do we succeed, and what would it mean if we were perfect?  All of these thoughts had me feeling like my head was spinning off. So I thought I had better write about it quickly!

How much time in life do we spend worrying about being perfect in all we do?

At first, I thought, really, this can’t be very much time, but in reality, I know it is significant.  If you are a writer like me, then every time you start to hit the publish button, there is a brief moment of thought, did I say what I wanted? Is it any good?

Maybe I’ll look it over one more time.  When I first started blogging, it took me forever to publish anything because there was always something I could look at and see imperfection.

It affects the way we prepare for the day, how we do our job, the way we approach parenthood, and even the way we approach our personal relationships.  It has been drilled into us that the perfect parents raise the perfect kids, and life should be perfect all the time. If it isn’t, then there is obviously something wrong with us.

We spend many of our waking moments stalking perfection in all of our life roles and when it doesn’t happen, chastise ourselves unnecessarily.  It seems a bit unhealthy to strive to look, act and live perfectly in everything you do. It seems like we are creating a lot of stress for nothing.

How often do we succeed at perfection?

I don’t know much, but I know that no matter how hard we try, we will never achieve perfection.  That sounds harsh as I write it, but I challenge anyone to show me something that is total, 100% perfect in every way to everyone.

It will not happen because, by definition, human beings are not perfect.  You may come close to perfection in your efforts, but there will always be something that wasn’t or isn’t quite right.

Does that mean you give up? Not to me, I think that in all things, we should strive for perfection.  Why wouldn’t you? When you fall short of the impossible, be less hard on yourself.  Many of the greatest and most memorable things we do in life will be to pursue something that can never be.  When it is all said and done, even though you will find that perfection slips out of your grasp, the attempt’s journey will be a valuable teaching tool and a treasured memory.

We may never achieve perfection, but we can be perfect in our efforts, and if that is the case, then perhaps perfection is achievable after all.

What Would It Mean If We Were Perfect?

I think if perfection were achievable, then the world would cease to hold as many wonders.  Excellence in some form or another would become commonplace, and the rare beauty of action, mind, and spirit that rises in all of us at some time would be taken for granted or just ignored altogether.

What is perfect anyway? Some cookie-cutter form or figure that the mainstream media has convinced you that you should emulate? Is there a perfect height? Perfect job? Perfect significant other? For each of us, the idea of perfection would be slightly different in some form or another.  So since there are billions of people in the world, I would argue that the definition of perfection could never be agreed upon.

It would be a very boring world without the yoke of imperfection hanging over our heads.  From the seemingly huge to the very minuscule, there is something fantastic about experiencing victory or success despite our well-known shortcomings in all accomplishments in my life.

  The Beauty in our imperfections

The courage to be imperfect comes when we identify the beauty in our imperfections. They are the unique things about us that are a part of the package.  So we will still spend the time looking good but realize that the illusion of perfection is not worth worrying about.

You are gloriously perfect just as you are, unfailingly and beautifully imperfect.