Embracing Your Dual Nature
Love the Masterpiece and the Work In Progress
“You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress, simultaneously.” — Sophia Bush
(Listen to Sophia Bush share a little more about this)
Here’s a simple question: Have you ever felt like you’re not good enough?
Maybe it seems like everyone around you is living their best life and making it look easy. Maybe you look at your friends and think they’re gorgeous, and you can’t understand why you don’t look like that. Maybe they’re reaching their goals and constantly moving forward, but you just feel stuck. Maybe you don’t even know what your goals are yet.
Here’s the truth: You’re not alone.
We’re all constantly bombarded with ideas of perfection and success. Society is obsessed.
Pictures on social media are edited. Celebrity weight loss is praised as one of the greatest accomplishments. The news of young women doing things some of us couldn’t even dream of is talked about everywhere.
Yet, when someone makes a mistake, we gossip and laugh about it. When a woman gains weight, people wonder what’s going on with her and assume she’s lazy. When we don’t reach our big goal, we’re too ashamed to talk about it because people might judge us.
It’s no wonder so many of us feel like we can’t measure up. It’s so easy to feel inadequate and flawed.
What if we changed our thinking? What if, instead of striving for perfection, we allowed ourselves to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously? The idea is to accept yourself as you are while being okay with having room to grow.
Recognize Your Inner Masterpiece:
We all have our own talents, strengths, and quirks that make us who we are. We have our own experiences, passions, and values. All of these things work together to make us special — one-of-a-kind masterpieces.
What makes you uniquely you? What are your strengths? What are you good at? What do you care about?
Take time to really think about it. Recognize the beauty and value of all the things that make you who you are. Remind yourself that the world needs you.
Embrace Your Work in Progress:
At the same time, it’s important to remember that we’re all works in progress. As cliche as it sounds, life is a journey. On this journey, we experience ups and downs, growth, learning, and change. We make mistakes and run into obstacles along the way, and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean we’re weak or unworthy or not good enough. They’re helping us grow, even when we can’t see it.
Growth happens outside of our comfort zones, so embrace this discomfort, this uncertainty, and this messy process.
Find Beauty in Imperfection:
There is beauty in imperfection. It’s the beauty of authenticity, vulnerability, and depth.
This whole idea makes me think of one of my sisters. She’s an artist and used to hate anyone seeing her work. It didn’t matter how many people obsessed over her art; she couldn’t get past the imperfections that no one else could see. She recently graduated from art school and, although the past few years were tough, she grew so much. Now, she’s proud of her work. She even posts her WIPs (works in progress) regularly online for everyone to see. She knows that what she might see as imperfections are just aspects that give her artwork more character and even beauty.
The same is true for each of us. We all have imperfections, but they only add to who we are. They make us more interesting, more relatable, more complex even. We have imperfections because we’re human, and that’s all we can be.
We need to stop trying to be perfect. Let’s embrace our flaws, our weird quirks, and our vulnerabilities. And we don’t have to stop there. Let’s own them. Without them, I wouldn’t be me, and you wouldn’t be you. They make us human. They make us real.
Embrace Your Dual Nature:
- Practice self-love and compassion. Treat yourself with the same kindness and understanding that you would offer to your best friend.
- Forget about perfection. Understand that setbacks are just opportunities to learn and grow. Remember that literally no one is perfect. It’s an impossible goal.
- Surround yourself with supportive and accepting people who cheer you on as you work to become even better all the time (though never perfect).
- Do things that make you feel good and remind you of your worth. Spend time in nature. Get a creative hobby. Connect more with people you love. Make time for the things that give your life meaning.
You are both a masterpiece and a work in progress. You’ve got both strengths and imperfections that add character and make you beautiful.
Accept yourself for who you are. Be gentle and patient with yourself. Be kind to yourself. You are so worthy of love and a sense of belonging. I know it’s easier said than done, and I know it’s maybe a little cheesy, but I wish someone had said all this to me earlier on.
The world needs you.
This was written in response to the Modern Women May Writing Prompt
