It seems that more people than ever feel the need to be perfect. Striving to be the best version of yourself seems to be connected to a growing concern of the mental health problems. A lot of people look at other people’s lives and compare them to their own. As a individual this can lead to questioning yourself whether you are smart, fit or happy enough? We all can feel a bit off sometimes, but it’s get dangerous when we tend to ignore our body signals. When we desire to aim for the perfect and happy live we tend to ignore our body signals because we think that ‘pain’ is part of the process. This pain could be stress, exhaustion or headaches for example that we feel as a result of too many hours of work and not enough time to rest. “Work hard, play hard” may sound as if you’re a successful person but think about the long term health risks.

Does life always have to be fun?

Dirk de Wachter is a Belgium psychiatrist who treats a lot of patients who suffer from the pressure of having a ‘perfect life’. He thinks that our society is obsessed about feeling perfectly happy all the time and striving of a perfect outcome in life. Nowadays we don’t want to feel sadness. We want good and fun times. Social media shows us that you can ‘choose’ to have that perfect life. We ignore the hard parts of life and therefore we tend to be more individualistic and just aim for our personal goals. Unfortunately striving for perfection and ignoring the bad moments of life leads to feeling more alone in a world full of people. De Wachter pleads to be more open about our daily struggle with our loved ones because that’s what makes us feel connected to our community. Let there be some sadness or some heartbreak and try to share it with your friends and family. When you feel supported by them you feel more loved. That’s what can help us deal with life!

Seek the ordinary things in life

Stop looking at other people’s lives and  stop comparing your life to theirs. Try to seek the ordinary things in life that you may enjoy as well. This way you can give yourself more time to feel connected to yourself and your inner circle. Listen to your body signals instead of ignoring them to reach perfection. Your body signals are telling you something about your needs. Try not to listen to what society tells you. You know what’s good for you.