Striving for Perfection Essay Example

Due to the high standards of society, people live in a world where striving for perfection should be our #1 top priority.  Striving for perfection can be very impactful. Whether it be negative or positive. Not only can it impact us as individuals, it can impact society, our personal lives, even our relationships with our loved ones and friends. Perfection is like yin and yang. It can have such a positive and negative effect on it. Although striving for perfection can lead to improvement and growth; however, when people try to strive for perfection, it can lead to obsession and struggles in their lives.

Striving for perfection can be a constant struggle. Especially when there are expectations placed on you from society and even from family. For example, there are some cultures where being perfect matters. My father’s family is from Nigeria. So in my culture, parents expect their kids to have such amazing grades and a good career choice. This makes me sometimes stuck and stresses me out because I feel like no matter the outcome, it will never be enough. This can be very hard, especially on a kid. They are expected to always be on point every single time and that can be extremely difficult and stressful for them. But despite all the struggles that people go through, struggling can also help a person grow. Struggle can change people's lives. It helps people develop inner strength, focus, persistence, and determination. Even though there are struggles that come with striving for perfection, those struggles can be empowering. 

Besides growth, improvement is also a result that comes out from striving for perfection. While growth helps you gain more value or strength, improvement is when you’re improving yourself to become a better quality of yourself.  For me, getting good grades wasn’t an easy thing for me. I used to struggle with keeping 80s and above on all of my work. It was hard due to the fact that I wanted to not only make my parents proud all the time, but to also be proud of myself. But after 6th grade, I started to strive to become a better version of myself. That’s when I started to notice the change. I began to maintain my grades and became the person I wanted to be. Someone that always improves in their work and personal life.

Despite the struggles, growth, and improvement that comes to perfection, striving for perfection can also lead to obsession. Like I said before, my dad is Nigerian, so there was expectation when it came to grade. It was hard trying to bring at least 85 and above every day. But when I started to bring 80s and above and going on the honor roll, those expectations from my dad started to fade away. But despite my father not having any high expectations, I started to obsess over getting good grades. Everything had to be perfect. I was my biggest critic. Even till this day, I’m still obsessed when it comes to my grades. I try to tell myself “ it’s okay to fail sometimes”, but it’s hard to accept that.

The pursuit of perfection has its ups and downs. It can lead to improvement and growth but it can also lead to struggles and obsession. That is why, rather than aiming for perfection, I believe that society should aim for excellence. Striving for perfection sets unrealistically high standards, while on the other hand, striving for excellence is more about making the great use of your abilities, skills, and talents in the best way possible.