Perfect. If someone were to look it up in the dictionary, the definition would be along the lines of “having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.” Somewhere in italics it would also say that the word is an adjective. But why has perfect become much more than a phrase naming an attribute? Why has perfect become… a picture? A picture everyone has in their head of what they want, or what they look up to as the best possible standard.

I don’t know how old I was exactly when I learned the word, but I know that since my kindergarten days, “perfect” was referred to as target my mother was determined to reach. Well several years, pounds, zits, and grades later, I believe whatever ideal image my mother had, disappeared. But nevertheless, “perfect” still follows me everywhere I go, as does it to everyone else. Magazines, billboards, commercials, all showing these flawless models displaying what perfect really is.
Maybe I missed the memo that was passed around, but I didn’t know I needed to be blessed with seemingly endless eyelashes, have the proportions of a sequoia tree branch, and have bleach white teeth to be perfect. Oh yeah, that’s because no one seems to warn you about these things when you’re born.

The bottom line is, you don’t get these memo’s and aren’t given this guidance because you’re expected to go through this self hatred in your life. Those images have to haunt you, for you to understand that reaching this standard will never happen. As much as someone may comfort you when you’re in break-down mode, telling you no one is perfect and these models are all edited, the cold hard truth is that there are people who you will meet who seem to be perfect from every angle in all possible ways. Yes, perfect is just a word, but we are all guilty of making it mean so much more to us. Maybe issues with the physical definition of perfect may not bother you. Maybe your making of the words deals with being perfectly genius, or socially accepted as the perfect kid. The only advice that I could possibly give is to settle, and learn to be comfortable with who you are. You’re not those models, you are not that perfect person you see while walking in the streets, and you are not your seemingly flawless enemy. You are you, and will be for the rest of your life.