In a perfect world we would all be, well, perfect. But we don’t live in a perfect world, and most of us, thankfully, aren’t perfect.

As Leonard Cohen so perfectly put it –

“Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in.”

In our fast paced, hectic world it is increasingly hard to be perfect, and yet still we persist in trying to be. Trying to be the perfect wife/mother/daughter/sister/friend etc to have the perfect house, the perfect job, the perfect life. But how many of us actually achieve perfection? I know I haven’t, in fact I would say I was far from perfect, but you know what – I kind of like it that way.

Yes, I know, I’m not really supposed to admit that am I? I’m supposed to follow the line of be the best you can be – well, I do. But that doesn’t mean I have to be perfect, and you know what, neither do you. Yes you should work towards being the best version of yourself, to doing work you enjoy, having a house which is a home and friends and family who you love (and who love you), to being a compassionate, honest, caring, loyal and generous person, but perfect? Please allow yourself to drop that ton weight now, trust me you’ll feel a whole lot better for it. We didn’t come here to be perfect but to be human, and that means experiencing all that humanity has to offer – good and bad, to embracing the chance to learn about ourselves and about others, to work towards change, and you don’t learn if everything is perfect.

Is it not better to be imperfect and happy rather than the stress of trying to be perfect all the time? Wouldn’t you have more time to do things you enjoy, to learn about yourself, to accept yourself, but still be able to work on the bits you want to change if you stopped spending so much time on being perfect? If you allowed yourself to love your imperfect self how much more could you achieve?

How many times have you thought “If x was perfect then y would be better?” But would it? Instead ask yourself if you changed x would that impact on y, and can you or do you actually want to change x? Is it not better to work towards creating change rather than waste time considering how things would be if they were perfect?

So work towards excellence rather than perfection and you’ll be much less stressed, much happier and more balanced. Let your light shine through the cracks in your perfection and show people who you really are. If you let enough light shine out you can break down those walls and really be yourself. Wait until you get your wings to be perfect, there’s plenty of time.