The Age of Perfection

You’re scrolling through TikTok, and you come across the ever-so-familiar glow up video. You’re watching as they grow up and then come to the end of the video. Disappointment strikes. You don’t see the makeup. The abs. The weight loss. You see a normal human being not looking abnormally pretty. You wonder,” Where’s the glow-up?’’

Well, there was a glow up. It just wasn’t physical. We’ve been conditioned by social media, our environment, and even our parents to pursue the pinnacle of perfection. That’s the same with that TikTok video you watched. You didn’t see the standardized set that TikTok has designated as the “perfect glow-up” (it’s called the beauty and virality algorithm, yes there is an algorithm to measure “beauty” now), so you didn’t think there was one.

All of us want perfection on the first try now, and it’s causing us anxiety. When we start a new hobby, maybe art, we put so much pressure on ourselves to create the next David. Well, that just isn’t realistic. Art is a skill even if you are born with the “talent”; it’s a skill you have to continually develop, which means making ugly art on the first try. That is okay.

Not only do we put this pressure of perfection on ourselves, but we also put it on others. We project our constant need for perfection with the nasty comments you can see on TikTok videos, Instagram posts, and Twitter threads. We do it in school, to the people who don’t have the perfect grades, the perfect set of extracurriculars, and perfect friends. Our parents do it to us all the time. Telling us to get the perfect test score, go to the perfect college, and get the perfect job.

Heck. We’re in the middle of a pandemic, and there are so many high school kids out there still looking for perfection. Starting ten different organizations about medicine, STEM, mental health, whatever it is. Just so their perfect college, oops, I meant dream college would accept them. (This is directed towards the people only making organizations for college, not the ones who are actually passionate about the organizations/projects they made.)

This disease of perfection has twisted our viewpoint of what living is. Now there’s even having a “perfect life.” Living was supposed to be about existing as you are and doing whatever brings you peace and happiness.

Even I fell into the trap of perfection. Obviously, I did, or I wouldn’t be writing this article right now. I wanted the perfect grades. I wanted the test scores. I always wanted to look perfect. I dressed up and put makeup on every single day for school. Sometimes I enjoyed it, but most of the time when I dressed up, I just wanted to wear sweatpants.

So did I change? I did. I still dress up but only when I feel like it. Instead of searching for those perfect grades, I started to love education, which meant doing my own learning on TikTok, signing up for free classes, and more. (yes, you can use TikTok to learn, learn how to manipulate your fyp) instead of all the rote learning, I did in school. Obviously, I still do my hw, but it doesn’t really teach me anything I didn’t already know. I started to do everything that I wanted and not what people expected of me. I started coding personal projects, writing, making art, learning how to use Creative Cloud. Now I finally feel content with my life because I stopped searching for perfection.

So how’d I do it? I learned to exist without wanting all these features society has conditioned us to perceive as perfect. I realized that I kept searching for things other people had instead of what I actually wanted. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to go and do all these creative projects as I did. This is what makes me happy because I am a multipotentiality personality. You might not want that, and it’s okay.

I’m just saying once you learn to be okay with existing with what you have right now. You’ll slowly stop chasing perfection. You’ll slowly start to be content with your life a little more, which is what humans were designed to be. We were supposed to live to exist contently.

So I ask all of you, and maybe some aren’t ready for this task, and that’s okay. I want you to stop chasing perfection and forcing everyone around you to be perfect. Let’s chase progress instead of perfection, at least.