An Invisible Enemy Which Walks Amongst Us

Naomi Kim | Editor

Women Protest People - Pixabay

Perfectionism is a beast that nobody can directly lay their eyes upon, but it shows in the actions and behavior of its victims. At its worst, it’s an obsession that drives them to do something over and over until they’re satisfied, even if they’re a beginner aiming to be a master. Many don’t choose to be a victim of this beast, but maybe you could tame it, and it’s as simple as “perfection doesn’t come in one try.”

As a perfectionist, that seems easier said than done. But when you take a step back and look at your process as a whole, I think there have been too many times where we try to get to that perfection straight from the beginning, instead of giving ourselves checkpoints and breaks in between. Even published writers write numerous versions of their drafts before the final one goes out to be published to the public, renown artists do numerous drafts and changes to their artworks before the final, the most famous songwriters write versions of songs with countless changes before it’s released to the public. Even the most experienced in their fields have steps to reach their version of “perfection.” 

Ultimately, one may argue that as flawed beings, we can never create perfection. And that may be true, humans are born to make mistakes so we might never create “true perfection.” But every standard we hold ourselves to were created by fellow humans, so maybe our perfection isn’t something so impossible after all.