7 Reasons You Don't Need to Be Perfect ...

1. Perfection is Boring

Perfect people would actually be pretty boring, and probably equally annoying. Flawed people are far more interesting; our flaws and quirks are what makes us human. It's fine to want to be a better person, but trying to be too perfect would make you not much fun to be around. Learn to accept yourself and don't try to be unrealistically flawless.

2. Nobody's Perfect

One of my favorite movie lines is at the end of Some Like It Hot when Joe E Brown cheerfully dismisses the revelation that his beloved is a man in drag with 'Nobody's perfect!' And he's right. None of us are, so there's no point wasting your time and energy trying to be something that just isn't possible.

3. Stressing Yourself

If you constantly wish that you looked like someone you admire, had a nicer house like your friend's, had done more with your life or had better hair, you'll be stressing yourself pointlessly. Focus on the things you can change and improve, rather than wasting your energy. You certainly can't go back in time, so never beat yourself up for what you did or didn't do in the past.

4. Unrealistic

Who can achieve perfection? Nobody. It's an unrealistic ambition. And why pursue it when you can't possibly achieve it? Work on achieving realistic goals instead. We're real people, not machines - and even machines can break down.

5. Makes You Unhappy

Tolstoy wrote in Anna Karenina, 'If you look for perfection, you'll never be content.' Wise words indeed. Since perfection is impossible to achieve in any aspect of life, you'll only be unhappy if you pursue it. You'll get upset that you can't achieve it and will feel like you've failed. Don't set yourself up to fail.

6. Everybody Has Problems

Do you ever find yourself wishing that you were more like a celebrity or that you had their life? The fact is, you don't know what's going on in their life or how they feel inside. Their seemingly perfect life may hide many worries. Even millionaires and beautiful people have problems.

7. Constant Quest for Perfection

It's common for people who have cosmetic surgery to embark upon a series of surgeries. Once they've 'fixed' the thing they hated, they still aren't happy with their appearance, and find something else that they're not happy with. So they end up trapped in a cycle of seeking a perfection that they can't achieve. It isn't so much their body part that's the problem, but rather an inability to accept themselves as they are.

So don't be so self-critical or allow other people to put you down because you don't fit their expectations. People can demand too much of us, and we of ourselves. Allow yourself to be flawed and imperfect - it's normal! Do you hold yourself up to impossible standards of perfection?