The Struggle is Real: The perfect struggle

Man, the struggle is real…

It is not easy being perfect.

Now, I know that sounds conceited and as if I am a god or something, but give me a chance to explain. I can easily admit that I am far from perfect.

So by saying it is not easy being perfect I mean it is not easy living up to the expectation to be perfect.

In high school, teachers and administrators tell us that we have to earn high grades, we have to be involved in multiple clubs, we should probably have a job, and we have to have community service hours on our resume for colleges.

In college, many of us strive to be the top of our classes, to earn the perfect score on each test and assignment, we are involved in at least one club, and we do almost anything if someone tells us it will boost our resume. We’ve been trained to think this resume has control of our lives.

When we screw up or make mistakes, we are made to feel as if we are less than other people.

We are compared to other students, to students who came before, and even compared to professionals, which in some cases can be a good thing, but often times it just creates more pressure. We are made to compete with all of those people, and if you happen to accomplish something bigger than any one of those people, we are even told to do more. It is never good enough.

Many of us are full-time students, participating in clubs and events on campus, and many of us even have part-time jobs on top of all of that. We are stressed, we are busy, and we are overinvolved and overworked.

And Heaven forbid we take a day to ourselves to catch up on work or just relax for a change or simply have a little fun, because then we are called lazy, depressed, or even weak. If we manage to take that day to ourselves without being called one of those negative adjectives, we call ourselves those things. We feel unproductive, we feel lazy, we feel depressed, and maybe we do feel weak, as if we cannot handle what life actually throws at us.

The struggle to be perfect is real. The struggle to be the best is real. The struggle to be better than everyone else, the struggle to be tough, and the struggle to handle everything life throws at us is real.

But, just because the world, and some people in it, think we have to be better than anyone else, that we have to be tough at all times, and that we have to be perfect in every aspect of our lives, we do not actually have to be all of those things.

It is OK to fall apart sometimes. It is OK to cry. It is OK to not be the best. It is OK to not be perfect, and it is OK to take a day for you. Life is tough and anyone who does not agree with that is lying to you. Pressures are hard to deal with and anyone who disagrees, lying. Being perfect simply does not happen—unless you are literally Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only perfect person—and if someone says you have to be, lying.

Just know, when life gets too tough, and the pressures hold you down, take one day to recuperate, but then pick yourself back up or find people who will help you, or (to throw in one of my favorite metaphors), find people who will run out of the dugout when you charge the mound. Find those friends who will be there to help you back up.

In the words of Hannah Montana, “Nobody’s perfect; I gotta work it, again and again ‘til I get it right.”

The struggle to be perfect is real, and when we cannot reach that perfection, there is a struggle to be better than everyone else. When you cannot even be the best, there is a struggle to not fall apart, but it is OK to fall apart, just be sure to get back up and fight again and again after you recharge yourself.

And never forget, the struggle is real, but, so is chocolate, so life must still be sweet.