May I have your attention, please? I have a very important announcement to make. Are you ready for this?

I am not perfect.

Yes, I am willing to admit that I am not perfect. I am fully aware of my imperfections, flaws, and indiscretions. I’m overweight, my body is disproportionate because of Poland Syndrome, I have Borderline Personality Disorder. I make mistakes daily as a mother and a teacher. I’ve done my fair share of stupid (and sometimes illegal) things. I could write you a novel of all the ways which I am imperfect, but you’d quickly become bored and probably burn the book to save others from reading such rubbish.

Yet, as I write this, I can’t help but think back to a weeklong band conducting workshop I attended this summer (yes, I’m a band teacher by day, writer by whenever I have a spare moment). The clinician was amazing, and I learned so much, but here’s the biggest take away I had from everything he said: We are all perfect just as we are. He constantly reminded us that each person at the workshop was the perfect fit for conducting a band. The six-foot tall gentleman was just as perfect for standing in front of the group as me at five-foot four-inches. It didn’t matter that one person had long arms and another person had shorter ones. It didn’t matter that I wear glasses and others did not.

The point he was making is that we could all do the job in our own way and we could all get great results from our bands. Who says this only applies to conducting bands, though? The same could be said for writing, for driving a car, for cooking, for, well, everything. I have a friend who we’ve dubbed “Legs for Days,” but to me she’s perfect and I can’t imagine her any other way. I have another friend who has undergone countless hardships in her life yet she is one of the most down to earth and compassionate, empathetic people I’ve ever met and I think she’s completely perfect. I think my therapist is perfect. Heck, I even think my wild daughters are perfect in their own sweet ways. The point is this, my friends: there isn’t one single person or stereotype for “perfect.” The truth of the matter is that we are all perfect and we are all imperfect at the same time. We are all exactly as we should be, existing for the exact purpose we are intended in this exact moment.

Our imperfections make us unique, our mistakes make us beautifully, perfectly human.

One of my favorite Brené Brown quotes is: “You are imperfect, you were wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.” I firmly believe every one of us, regardless of any physical, mental, or other features, is completely worthy of love and belonging. So, I’m not perfect and neither are you, but thanks to the theory of dialectics, I am completely perfect and so are you. Every girl is perfectly imperfect, including you.