Your Imperfections Make You Perfect

Is it okay to be imperfect? YES! But how do you embrace your flaws? Here are six ways to accept yourself and accept that your imperfections make you perfect.

When you learn how to embrace your imperfection, instead of trying to remove or hide your flaws, you open the doors to a happier and more successful life! Here are six reasons to embrace your imperfection.

October 2023 Update: Four years later, I am still embracing my imperfect self! What I’ve discovered is that my life gets better the more I accept who I really am rather than who I think I should be.

Life is great, not in spite of my imperfections but truly because of them! In this post, I share the ways that I made my life perfect for me, by accepting my own imperfections.

Your Imperfections Make You Perfect

From an early age, I can remember feeling weird and not quite fitting in. To compensate, I spent a lot of time trying to develop into what I thought the world wanted.

I wasn’t successful and it wasn’t until I learned to embrace my imperfections, that I learned they could be a part of my success. I really have learned that my own imperfections are a blessing.

What are Our Imperfections?

These are our personal qualities that we think make us less than or not enough. Our imperfections are things that we think of as flaws.

It could be benign things like we laugh too loud or we weigh ten more pounds than we’d like.

Maybe we are shy in social situations or we can’t remember the punchline to jokes. I usually feel like a bunch of insecurities held together with a bit of hope and faith that things will work out.

What have you thought about yourself? Too loud, too quiet? Perhaps too awkward or you can’t sing in tune. Does reading a map give you a headache? Do you cover your eyes during scary movies?

Have You Created a Facade of Perfection? 

It might seem silly but often it’s these little things that we feel make us imperfect. Self-acceptance seems impossible when you have so many imagined inadequacies. 

It might seem far off at the moment, but I promise you, some of the most beautiful things about you are your so-called imperfections. Your perfect imperfection!

But usually what is happening is that we often try to hide it, eradicate it, or pretend it doesn’t exist. And in doing this, we create something of a false persona. It’s an awful lot like us but not quite. Something IS missing.

That something missing is you, the real you and in place of you is your facade of perfection. 

When you put so much energy into hiding the ways you aren’t perfect, you sacrifice your vitality, feelings of self-worth, and even some of your innate talents. 

Reasons to Embrace Your Imperfections

The world is too full of people trying to act like they think they should. There are millions of voices out there and the only way to ensure that your voice is heard is to speak as only you can speak and act as only you can act.

This means you have to embrace your imperfection.

In the beautiful journey of my life, I discovered was that the world really has no interest in inauthentic personalities. Even if we don’t actually like someone, we still prefer people who are “real.”

One of my favorite compliments is when someone tells me that they reached out to me because they could tell I was real. It might seem counter-intuitive but often the marks of authenticity are when you allow your quirks to show.

When I finally accepted my realness and my self-described imperfections, I finally found the peace and acceptance I had always longed for. It is a form of freedom to embrace the gifts of imperfection. 

Yes, you will feel more free than ever when you give up the notion that you have to be perfect. 

Perfect is a Made Up Concept

There is no such thing as perfect or imperfect. These are made up concepts that keep us all discontent with how we are and the life we live. 

If we have any sort of flaw, we think we are less. 

But imagine if everyone was just accepted as who they are. We wouldn’t have to hide anything! 

Perfect is boring. And who really cares? 

The more people that embrace themselves, the more that will become the new normal.  The very essence of my being is made up of all of me, not just the ones I think will be more easily accepted. 

Is It Okay to Be Imperfect?

The things we think of as flaws and imperfections are simply our qualities. Is is okay to be imperfect? Yes, because there is no other way to be.

No tribe exists where everyone is exactly the same. That would literally be hell on earth. We need all the unique qualities that people bring—even the ones that can be annoying and irritating. Those things make us grow too.

At some level, we do get that. Feeling good about our so-called flaws is a whole different thing. How do you go from feeling imperfect to not only owning your imperfections but to letting them be a public part of who you are?

I believe that there is a special kind of beauty in people that don’t try to be perfect. I love everyone’s messiness. To me, authenticity is the true essence of beauty.

Not only that, but I also believe that to discover your true genius, you need to not just accept but embrace and show you authentic self!

How do You Embrace Yourself?

Here are six ways to help you embrace yourself and embrace your so-called flaws. To do this, you have to change how you think and look at your imperfections differently from now on.

You will eventually realize that your imperfections actually make you perfect. They are what make you, you. They are what make you memorable and stand out from the crowd!

Decide perfection doesn’t exist

Since no one truly is perfect, you have to get over it. Perfection is just something our minds make up to make us unhappy with ourselves as we are. Way too often we use the excuse of our imperfection to keep ourselves feeling safe.

If we use our weight or something about our looks to keep us from participating in things, we are holding ourselves back just because of an idea that we have a flaw.

Imperfect isn’t a personality trait.It isn’t who you are. Feeling imperfect is just a feeling. It’s not real my friend.

Remember, no one is perfect. No one. Perfection does not exist!

Be happy in spite of your imperfections

Be perfect or be happy!

It is so much easier to be happy when you aren’t trying to be perfect. For some of us that’s easier said than done. 

As our stress levels go up, we can believe we need to be more perfect. 

We convince ourselves that we can’t be happy until we are thinner, our kids act different, our partner does more, or our boss treats us better. 

Women often look to others for the confirmation that we are worthy. Quit giving others that power. You can be a glorious mess and still be amazing and worthy.

No one else gets to have a say. You really can choose to be happy, right now, no matter how many things you think are imperfect about yourself.

It is possible to be happy at any age, weight, or situation. For everyone that says this isn’t so, there is someone out there who has done it.

There are people who have managed to find happiness even in the face of horrible life events. Their lives aren’t perfect but they found happiness anyway.

Do things you want to do

I was always waiting to do things until I lost enough weight, got in better shape, had better clothes, felt more confident, or had more money.

A recent example is that I want to try rock climbing but I feel like I am too heavy and not strong enough. 

I have never even tried it! I have simply let my idea about my imperfections hold me back from even checking it out. 

Over the years, I have done that in many different areas. Jobs, relationships, trips, hobbies, you name it. 

While waiting for perfection in those areas, I missed out on so many opportunities! Now I just do things. I go with the body I have, the clothes I have, and the money I have. I go even when I don’t feel at all confident.

It’s hard to believe I let those things keep me from doing things I wanted to do but they did. By trying things with all my imperfections in tow, I am still having amazing experiences. I wouldn’t have believed it was possible a few years ago.

The more comfortable you get with doing things anyway, the more you are willing to do. And the more things you are willing to try; the more opportunities you’ll have!

Practice showing off your imperfections

Okay, it’s one thing to have imperfections; it’s another to show them off! My comfort zone was in hiding who I really was.

I get that, truly I do. I was a big hider of and pretender of not having any imperfections. Yet, as I gradually became more comfortable with them, I got more comfortable with not having to always act like I totally had my act together.

Allowing yourself to show up as your real self, flaws and all, will free you to live the life you want. When you are hiding parts of yourself, that just isn’t possible in the same way.

People don’t like us because we’re perfect. They like us because of all those quirky flaws we have!

Embrace your imperfections and let yourself be adorable

Not only is it okay to have flaws, you are more adorable because of them. No one likes people because they are perfect. They like us because we are real and wonderful even with those pesky bits of ourselves.

It’s our unique qualities that draw people to us and make them comfortable with us. It’s our quirks that are part of our true beauty. 

It’s refreshing to find out that others are not perfect. How many times have you learned something about someone that you thought was perfect (and maybe that was a little intimidating) and then you found out that they had things about themselves that bothered them.

You feel closer to them! You realize that we all have our ‘stuff.”

Your Imperfections may be your super power

Finally, not only do your imperfections make you perfect, they may just be your super-power. I’ll give you two examples from my own life.

I grew up in a small town, with a laborer dad. He did eventually get a college degree but we definitely never had a lot of money in the early days or an upscale way of life. While my circumstances improved over time, that feeling has never quite gone away. It feels like a flaw at times.

Yet, in my professional life, it’s a super-power because I can truly relate to people at all levels of socio-economic status comfortably. I may not look like a small-town poor girl on the outside anymore, but I do know how it feels and I can truly empathize with the challenges that brings.

My imperfections also led me to create this blog. I had struggled with my skin, weight, and all kinds of personal issues all my adult life. Writing about these “flaws” and making them public, allowed me to own them and help others.

Without all my imperfections, I wouldn’t have had anything to write about!

Take a little time and start thinking about how your imperfections may actually be a part of your super-power arsenal. What do they allow you to do well, that you may not have been able to do otherwise?

Your Imperfections Make You Perfect

Whether it feels like it or not, they do. I encourage you to start reframing how you look at your own flaws and imperfections. Know that they really aren’t something wrong with your but in actuality are things that make you the amazing person you are.

You truly can embrace your flaws and discover that it is okay to be imperfect.