Perfection At Its Finest

What does it even mean to be a teenager now? Am I supposed to be that one perfect vanilla, clean girl or am I supposed to be alt and edgy? The truth is, there is no right answer. Sometimes I wish I lived in the early 2000’s. I mean, everyone followed that “Y2K” theme and basically looked the same as others, a lot simpler than it is now.

There's this need to always feel, look and be perfect. If you mess up, you are an embarrassment, a failure, useless. Sure, you say you do not care what others think, but deep down the feeling of everyone always watching you never goes away. As much as you try to ignore the hate and negativity, it’s hard. I need to be perfect, I need to have the perfect body, the perfect face, the perfect hair, the perfect grades, the perfect everything! All this just to be rated “mid” on the boy's scale of attractiveness.

You can’t express your emotions, otherwise you are crazy. Yet, we are encouraged to share our feelings with the world and talk to people whenever we need it. But when you actually seek the help you need, you become crazy. It’s all “mental health matters” until someone who is actually struggling talks about their mental health.

You better have that perfect hourglass figure, otherwise you're too fat or too thin. But, don’t starve yourself otherwise you need help. And if you are “too thin” eat a burger, gain some fat. Make sure you aren’t flat, you need to have both boobs and a butt, but you can’t show it off otherwise you are begging for attention.

You need to have a lot of friends that actually like you, otherwise you are a loner. Yet, I think someone's my friend one day and then the next they talk the absolute most about you for no reason.

You need to be able to have fun, otherwise you are a buzzkill. Not too much fun though because then people will take advantage of you.

You need to have stunning grades, otherwise you are just plain stupid. Though, if you refuse to go out to study for something you are weird. Make sure you know what you're doing with your life otherwise you're screwed.

You need to put in effort in how you look, but not too much otherwise you are a try hard. Acne? Just wash your face. Any slightly imperfect skin? Just put some makeup on. Make sure not too much, otherwise you are a catfish.

But, why? Why have we let it get to this point that it’s almost impossible to live up to the standards? We say it’s difficult to be perfect, but we still try our hardest to do so. Do we really want to look back on our teenage years and just see ourselves trying to be perfect? I do enjoy being a teenage girl, I truly do, but the stress that comes with it is what makes it annoying.