The pressure to be perfect!
The world is changing and the youth today is striving for more and more. Being ambitious is good, but an unrealistic strive for perfection could be unhealthy. How can the upcoming generation balance their goals with their reality? What is causing this and how can we tackle it without our society crumbling under pressure?
- The strive for perfection: New levels of wealth and aspiration drive people to feel unsuccessful with just a regular job and salary. We have access, using technology to almost everything at our fingertips. More options can lead to more confusion and the strive for only the best. Social media makes it hard for us to escape people’s so called perfect lives. Teenagers today use apps such as the Beauty App to post a photo of themselves where all their imperfections have been smoothened out.
- Dealing with the pressure to be perfect
It is easy to get carried away with the pressure to be perfect. Individuals can focus on their own strengths and skills and limit their social media exposure. Schools and parents can encourage students who may not be academically bright but have other strengths. Institutions should avoid publishing rankings and focus more on specific streams and subjects that a student shines in. Companies should celebrate diversity within teams and create failure walls instead of just success stories. - Impact on society
Millenials are likely to switch jobs up to 11 times, as compared to our grandparents generation that largely pursued one job for their entire life and made it work for them. This is largely due to their quest for the perfect job. People are getting married later as they search for the perfect spouse. Some people respond well to stress – it gives them a burst of energy. Others who feel this pressure to be perfect over long periods of time may experience negative related health outcomes and even develop depression and panic disorders.
Choose authenticity over perfection. Campaigns by brands such as Dove that celebrates real women and real beauty are seeing tremendous traction. No filter posts and no make-up posts by celebrities on social media are often more valued than those that are photo-shopped. Having real and true experiences in which we find meaning lead to greater happiness than we can imagine! So celebrate your true, authentic self and don’t worry about achieving someone else’s version of you.
