Day 5: Practice Makes Perfect

Hello stranger,

My exam went well today, just thought I'd tell you before you ask. Saves you from all the worry you've been feeling inside. I actually left the exam early because I finished quite quickly. I'm not sure if that was a good idea, but I was quite excited to leave an exam early for the first time. Makes you feel smart. Don't even deny it, you know it's true. I also had this open earlier for a couple minutes because I couldn't think of how to start my post until I went to the kitchen, got some food, ate, did some other stuff, and now I'm finally here writing. Right now I'm feeling thirsty though...

Anyway, practice. When you learn something new you don't really 'learn' it until you take practice. This I tell you, is a fact. That is why teachers give homework. Homework is still a completely different story though, it just puts everyone in misery. Well, I was just using it for an example. My dad has been telling me lately that he wants to get me a piano tutor for some reason, and I keep telling him that I won't really be good at it unless we get a piano. He, of course, being the typical cheap parent, disagrees with me. But think about it, what's the point of learning if you don't even practice? How can I practice without a piano? Unless you really hate what you're learning then I'm totally with you.

So people say: "Practice makes perfect." Then there's the: "But nothing's perfect, so why practice?" Think about that for a moment... I actually learned this way back and I once said it to my friend and her mom overheard me. She said to me "Yes, that's true. But then where would you get yourself at? If you don't at least try you won't really get anywhere." Or something like that, I was 12 years old, I think. I thought my statement was clever, but what she said made a whole lot of sense. I know there are some things that we just can't get around to doing because well, we're lazy. At least I know I am. In fact right now I'm really feeling like a nap, but I choose to keep writing because I don't want to forget the stuff that I'm thinking regarding this topic.

As much as we know that nothing's perfect, we should still take into consideration that there are also such things as 'perfect scores' (which I hopefully get in at least one of my exams). Even things like a 'perfect place' or a 'perfect date' exists. Because after all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You could think a handbag looks absolutely amazing but other people could see it as complete trash. But that's not what this topic is about. This is about people who stop trying, or people who strive so hard for perfection. I should say myself that I'm quite the perfectionist. That's probably an overstatement though. I'm only really fussy about my handwriting. (Another reason why I cannot keep a diary, my handwriting distracts me.) And maybe other 'minor' stuff.

Let's start with people who stop trying. Some people say to themselves, "I'm probably not even going to do well anyway." or "I bet I'm totally going to mess it up." Well, if you keep telling yourself that then you probably are going to mess it up and not do well. It's only a matter of having the right attitude and having a positive atmosphere from the people around you. If you were surrounded by people crying and sulking that wouldn't really give you the support you needed now would it. On the contrary, there are the people who won't rest until everything's 'perfect'. I could be like that sometimes, but what's really bad about it? Well it's not really bad, it's just not a very good thing. In my opinion anyway. I think people who have an eye for perfection are not able to appreciate a lot of things because they have higher standards. This is where I'm different. But I'm not writing about me here.

Going back to the phrase 'practice makes perfect', although it is set in our minds that nothing's really perfect, we could try to make things in the level of perfection. We should know not to underachieve, or overachieve. Just do everything that we possibly can. I mean, if you really wanted something you'd work hard for it. You'd practice. Until you get there. Probably not perfection, but you'll get somewhere.

Tomorrow: Today's Media