On [im]perfection

"Pass on some useful advice or information you learned and always remembered."

I tend to be incredibly hard on myself. I blame my constant need for perfection which developed in elementary school (and possibly before). Perfection in elementary school wasn't too hard to come by. But then you enter the real world of junior high and high school (and let's be honest, I think junior high was more real world than college....junior high was brutal) and perfection becomes harder and harder.

My best friend's dad had given me a small side job during high school. He is the kind of person you would want as your grandpa. He's very soft-spoken, kind, and the type of person that wouldn't yell but would say how disappointed he was (which is worse). He was kind of like Dumbledore. Always giving one liners that were incredibly profound. (I'm rereading Harry Potter, it's the best comparison I could come up with.) I was talking to him one day at work, fairly upset for one reason or another about not being perfect at school or whatever, when he looked at me and said, "Kayleigh, if you were perfect, you wouldn't be working here."

And that phrase has never failed to haunt the recesses of my mind in all the best ways.
Mostly because I feel like it can be carried over to all aspects of life.
If you or I were perfect, we wouldn't be working here. On earth. Just trying to make it day-by-day. It was never intended for us to be perfect at anything.

That's not to say you shouldn't try, but if your best effort leads to failure, at least you tried.