Life Without Perfection
Written by: Khadeja
September was a very busy month for me. I traveled overseas twice for weddings, moved into a new apartment, and attempted to maintain my full-time job. None of the above came as a surprise, but as much as I tried to be organized and on top of things, eventually it got to be a bit too much. Yet I thrived–actually, I went into over-drive, energizer-bunny mode. I just kept going in a robotic trance. And yes, it was efficient to a certain degree. I managed to get things done and was feeling quite proud of the fact that I felt overworked and drained at the end of each day. But the feeling of pleasure was not there. I found myself obsessing about the small things…literally the small things. I spent hours online trying to find perfectly-sized spice jars. Amazon should give rewards points to their prime members for most orders in a week. I would definitely be in the top 1%.
I got it into my head that I was going to build the perfect home for myself and my husband. I had visions of perfectly put together pantries and living rooms. Harmless enough, but I wanted it all to happen immediately. I felt frustrated at the pile of recycling that resulted from the move (note to self: next time we move, rent out heavy-duty plastic containers to save the hassle of dealing with extra cardboard boxes) and just wanted to skip this part of the moving process and go right into the living phase. But I had forgotten that I already was living. I had finally gotten a place to call my own and yet I had already started to take it for granted.
One night, I crashed into bed – which is what I had been doing for the past few weeks–and was ready to pass out when something struck my eyes. The moon was shining right down on my face, in all its glory. It was so clear that night that I could see the craters on its surface. The mere sight took my breath away and I had no choice but to live in the moment and bask in the beauty of the moon’s glow.
We get so busy trying to bring our definition of a perfect life into reality. We hope, pray, and wish to surpass the tricky parts so we can finally live our lives properly. But it’s all part of the same narrative. Life is organic, ever flowing into different pockets and detours. But the destination is always one. The secret is to learn how to enjoy all facets of living rather than judging which are bad and which are good. I hope that I can keep this lesson close to my heart as I enjoy this new chapter in my life….cardboard boxes and all.