I have to make it perfect. I can’t mess anything up.
Everyone who has been a teenager has thought these words before. It is one of the consequences of a concept that affects everyone.
Maybe I shouldn’t do this. I’m not good enough.
And it has stopped many of the greatest minds from changing the world.
Judgment in today’s world is very powerful, and the majority of it comes from intrusive thoughts and overthinking. We need to be perfect, otherwise our peers won’t like us. This can be brutal, especially in teenage years, perhaps the most formative years in our lives.
But we want to thrive. To excel.
We want to become like Taylor Swift. Da Vinci. The Beatles. We wish we could be like them, perfect, always making masterpieces, always getting so much recognition and support.
They were the lucky ones. The ones who kept working with determination. They didn’t always receive all of the support. Like us, they weren’t born famous. They had to stick with what they wanted to do. They had to take risks and go outside of their comfort zone.
If the world didn’t judge anyone, it would be full of amazing people who were recognized for their talent and ability. Nearly everyone would be successful and have their dreams come true.
Of course, we don’t have that. The world has a lot of ignorant people who tell others to quit, but even if those people don’t judge, intrusive thoughts blow it out of proportion, and it is so much easier just to stop and never take chances.
However intelligent the human race may be, it is currently impossible to rewrite the genetic code decided for us by some higher power. Humans will always have instincts to keep them safe. Even if death is conquered and disease is a thing of the past, our brains will still have them. Our society will never be perfect because our brains were designed just to survive. The reason why we are here is that we decided to question why things came to be and why things work.
The mind is stubborn within reason. It keeps us alive even in modern days, yes, but it does so in a cruel way that is just good enough to be reasonable for survival. It is the reason why the famous people who are loved and supported are rare, though many people are famous.
For some reason, they defied their instincts and ignored the doubt cast upon them by their peers. By their family, who wanted them to know that the real world isn’t as accepting as they think; by their critics, who just didn’t think there was a need for that in our society.
By themselves, the ones who didn’t believe in their talents.
It is easy to look at this and give up and think that life isn’t fair. To be hopeless. To wish for a better world.
But isn’t that what the world wants?
We have an imperfect society, and we can take advantage of that. If we were perfect, we would be boring. Nobody would have any problems, and nothing would be unexpected. If there were no judgment, nobody would be famous. Nobody would have goals, because there would be no chance to be better. That feeling that you did something uncomfortable and it did something good for you is so much better than staying comfortable and never changing anything about yourself. It’s called growth, and in an imperfect society that is always changing, growth is our best friend. So embrace it.
