Perfect imperfections

Hi Everyone!  

Happy Wednesday!  I know you have probably all heard of the song All of Me, by John Legend.  The song is about loving someone despite their imperfections.  No, I am not here to talk about crushes and finding your soul mate...I actually think that this song and the video I am posting below give a great illustration of how we need to love our own perfect imperfections.  

The Gifted Teacher, the YouTuber featured here, is attempting to show how vocals that are digitally edited are different from raw vocals.  With his demonstration about signing and vocals, which I admittedly know nothing about, the teacher, unknowingly, gave a great little SEL lesson.  We...that is humans - middle schoolers especially...spend a lot of our daily existence thinking about how we measure up.  Unfortunately, a lot of the measuring we do is against an unrealistic yardstick.  

We measure ourselves against airbrushed photos, digitally enhanced music, professionally edited videos, and people with lots of money who have personal trainers, chefs, and stylists.  We even spend time measuring ourselves against simple filters and small moments in time that get posted to make one "look" cool/hip/or on point.  

In this video, it's really eye-opening to see the difference between the edited version and the raw version of the John Legend cover.  Clearly, this person has some musical talent, but it's important to recognize that even with talent, there are mistakes made.  He definitely finds a few cringy moments.  Have a look...

You can have all the talent in the world, and you still will never be "perfect."   

I stumbled across this video and felt that it was an important one to post because we need to be reminded that the idea of perfection is pretty much an illusion.  In fact, I think the only real perfection is imperfection.  So just give yourself a break today, okay?  You are perfect just the way you are.  If you are trying to do something - a school assignment, a new sports skill, mastering a new song on your instrument, or nailing a new trick on your skateboard - whatever it is, know that as long as it's your best effort, it's good enough!  You are good enough!  Don't worry about whether or not you measure up to all those unrealistic standards.  

All you need to worry about is how you feel when you are doing what you are doing?  When you are rockin' the tunes with the windows rolled down, or you are sailing down the mountain on your bike, or when you are covered in flour in the kitchen, are you happy?  If you can say yes, then you are in the perfection zone!  

Keep doing what you love cougars, and keep it raw!  

Have a great afternoon!  

Mrs. Hempey