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            As much as I strive for perfection, I will never be perfect, nor do I want to be. I have written and deleted thousands of sentences because none of them seem like they are as perfect as they should be. 

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            Striving for perfection is something I have struggled with for as long as I can remember. I always had to carefully color in between the lines or have the neatest handwriting. I had to be the fastest in the class or get the best grades or else I was not “good enough.” Of course, my parents remind me to do my best and be happy with that. But wouldn’t they be happier if I were perfect?  

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            Presumably, yes. However, there is no such thing as “perfect”. 

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            When you think about it, who set the standard of what it means to be perfect? Wouldn’t one person’s perfection be different from another’s? By trying to be perfect, you end up ruining your own uniqueness and trying to fit in the mold of what others have shown as “perfect”. However, by trying your best, you preserve your uniqueness while still doing quite well. 

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            For seventeen years of my life, I have tried to be the perfect student, the perfect child, the perfect employee, and the perfect person. But finally, I have realized that it is just not possible. I cannot do twenty things at once and expect to be perfect at all of them. I cannot expect myself to be perfect at something the first time I try it. I can sit here and write this essay one thousand times, and it would never be “perfect” for me. In my eyes, this essay could be the worst one I have ever written but looking from someone else’s point of view, it could be the definition of a “perfect essay.” 

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            The idea of perfection has taught me that it does not exist. So why strive for something you know does not exist? You can’t. 

Although it has taken me a while, I have finally started to follow my parents’ guidance: be the best I can be and be happy with that. 

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            We are all imperfect in our own ways. That’s what makes us so unique and beautiful. The best thing we can be.