Perfection
- by Tray
- Feb 21, 2018
- 2 min read
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
-Vince Lombardi
I am not perfect *gasp*.
But there is an unsaid, unspoken, undeclared pressure for me to be as close to it as possible. When I want to learn how to do something, I want to learn it quickly and efficiently and when I cannot do it as well as I think I should, I get discouraged. It is easy for me to just say that I put this pressure on myself and that it doesn’t really exist outside of me, but that would be a lie.
I am being watched. Not in the sense of someone spying on me (we can talk about my assigned FBI specialist named Christophe another day) but I have set a certain tone for my life, and I am not in a position where I feel that I can mess up. I don’t come from money (surprise). I come from a long-line of Black women who struggled day-in and day-out to provide for themselves and their children. They worked hard and dealt with a lot of rough weather just for me to be able to do what I am doing now. I was born into my position and the life of hustle is intertwined within every cell of my being, rushing though the blood that pumps to keep me going. The sacrifice, the sweat, the tears…it was all done for me. I am not a role model by any means and I have my own set of shortcomings, but my success is the success is for the Black girls who are coming up after me. So I cannot fail. I cannot afford to fall down and not pick myself back up. I do not have the luxury of quitting anything right now. It is not an obligation. It is a badge that I wear with great honor and purpose.
I may not be perfect but I have to be excellent. For us.
Happy Black History Month
Black Beret - Vintage (similar)
Sweater - H&M (similar)
Boots - Banana Republic (similar)
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