We, as human beings, strive for greatness because we hear about humanism time and time again, in everywhere from history class to church. However, this ambition can turn into an unhealthy obsession. Our society instills in us the importance of being a certain way, in respect to qualities such as physical appearance and achieving a certain level of academic or financial success. Because we are humans and will never reach a state of perfection, we are never satisfied with who we are. When we don’t achieve perfection, we lose confidence, self-respect, and dignity that we once had. We get this idea that we must conform to these expectations and standards, that we must be “perfect,” from various sources. These include parents and other family members, peers at school, and the media. This pressure has spread so much that 74% of American girls admit to feeling it. Out of those who are under this terrible weight, over half said this pressure came from their parents (source 2). This may be difficult to comprehend because parents are the people who should unconditionally love us. They are the people who are supposed to be most supportive of us, but they are actually contributing to our quest to be perfect and our countless failures. It appears that the harder we try to reach this state and impress them, the farther away we move.
The Pressure To Be Perfect presents itself in subjects’ lives in an infinite number of ways. One that seems to be common among children is the need to live up to elders. Parents contribute to the fact that they adopt the mentality that because their siblings went into a certain field for college or graduated high school early, they must as well. In addition, society presents a set of contributing factors. Many people feel that models are among the most beautiful, and many young girls have begun to believe that they’ll only be pretty if they’re as thin as the average model. In fact, 41% of American girls constantly diet or constantly think about their weight (source 2). This is a serious issue because there are many young girls out there who are at healthy weights and fall under the impression that they must lose weight to be pretty and accepted by others. They take on eating disorders and don’t know where to turn when it gets too severe because the people that should be there are contributing to the issue. “There is always this pressure to be skinny, to get good grades, and to get invited to the best party possible. All these components sometimes makes it hard to go to school without feeling like it's a chore. Especially this year, the pressure really got to me.” (Source 3)
When a summation of all the causative influences to this immense pressure is taken, this issue’s great presence becomes crystal clear. It becomes easy to see why a young high school student would be on the verge of a serious mental breakdown. The Pressure To Be Perfect is terrible and paralyzing, but it doesn’t have to victimize anymore. All it takes is one person to make a difference in someone else’s life. That one person could be you, or me, or anyone. Every human being on our planet holds monumental powers within them, even though some don’t realize it.
People accomplish incredible things all the time; however, some of those great happenings go unnoticed. Others even provoke denouncement because of jealousy. As individuals, we all hold the power to be the one to congratulate our peers and elders. We all have the ability to make the day greater for other people. We all can volunteer to raise money for charity. We all have immense potentials. We need to capitalize on them. If everyone learns to be selfless, imagine how much more phenomenal the world would be. If we all learn to follow the golden rule, society as we know it and this detrimental pressure would be no more.
Society will only overcome The Pressure To Be Perfect when the individuals who compose it decide follow the golden rule. The society that keeps this pressure alive is us. Only when we change will the situation change. Forget about the people who don’t think you’re cool because you spent your Saturday volunteering. Instead of focusing on them, dream about the lives you changed because of the hours you spent doing good deeds. The volunteering of a person can be inspiration to others, and the potential that can come out of the acts based on inspiration is astronomical. This chain can start with you, or me, or anyone.
It takes one person to do the right thing and inspire. It takes one person to be selfless and brighten someone else’s day. It takes one person to volunteer and make a difference. It takes one person to change society; but, it takes society, in its entirety, to deprive us of the presence of the Pressure To Be Perfect. Be that person. Bring forth that change.
“What you have to decide is how you want your life to be. If your forever was ending tomorrow, would this be how you’d want to have spent it?” (source 1)