PERFECT, MAYBE NOT?

For the start, let me throw some light on my historical self. I had always been this skinny, petite girl who never gained weight no matter what she ate. I remained underweight for a good number of years. Many of my friends, family, and colleagues taunted me and a few also mentioned that they were jealous.

As you might know, our society is a champion in showing the mirror that reflects our imperfections. No matter how strong-willed one may be, there does come a time when the desire of fitting into the ‘normal/ perfect’ defined body type hits our mind. This idea of a perfect self is not something that’s designed by the flawless models on the magazine covers but by the ones who live in our close vicinity – our relatives, friends, colleagues, and even the seller from whom we buy our groceries. No matter if you are thin, fat, skinny, muscular – everybody just feels entitled to ‘tell’ or ‘remind’ you of the ways you are imperfect.

But this is something that we all are aware of already, aren’t we? In the next few lines, I will share my personal experience that might help someone out there take some time out and reflect if these perfect measures are really worth it?  

As mentioned earlier, I had always been the skinny girl of the group. You know, that tiny thin girl of the class who stood in the front of the assembly line.. yep, that’s me. Years passed by and I remained the same. Joined office and the story of people commenting on how short/ skinny I was, continued like always. Everybody – irrespective of the job role had something or the other to say. Ex: ‘hey, put some coins in the pocket or the wind might blow you away, ‘hey, eat more or you will vanish in a few days, blah blah. I know, so common, right?

The story changed when a few years later my body started to respond to the measures I was taking to keep myself healthy. However, the surprising twist was when I had JUST started to reach the normal weight range. The same group of people who taunted me for being underweight now started giving me advice on how I should join the gym and eat in the right proportions/ stop eating more. In just a few weeks, people stopped calling me skinny but started calling me out on how I could be fat 😀  This was quite astonishing. Like really?!

Even though I paid little heed to others’ opinion, I did realize one thing that day – no matter how skinny, healthy, or overweight one may be, for some reason everybody turns into a detective trying to find any possible negative aspect in us and if it doesn’t exist, they create it. And no, they are not bad people and neither do they have bad intentions. It’s just many themselves don’t realize that ‘perfection’ is an idea that can’t be defined in the same terms for everybody. Sometimes these comments come out of concern and at times, to insult or to make fun. However, whatever the intention may be, we as an individual must learn to respect ourselves and our life.

It is my deepest wish that we understand that we can’t define what is short unless we compare it with something that is tall. We can’t define what is fat unless we compare it to something that’s thin etc. Do you realize how the entire idea is of comparing one to another? Even the idea of perfection arises from comparison with someone or something that seems flawless to someone’s eyes. If one can’t define beauty then how can we define perfectionism?

What if this comparison didn’t never really existed? What if we didn’t think of how ‘A’ is compared to ‘B’ but rather saw ‘A’ and ‘B’ as two whole separate individuals who are just perfect the way they are. Don’t you think that we already have so much to deal with in this world and just one small act of ours by removing this tag of being perfect might just contribute in making this world a beautiful place to be in?

In the end, I would just like to remind all my readers  – a dress is a mere piece of cloth that is made to fit you and cover your body. The misery begins when we start looking the other way around and force ourselves to fit into the size of the cloth. Remember that you matter. Focus on being healthy and happy, perfection will follow anyhow.

Feel free to share your experiences in the comment section down below 🙂

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