College of Arts and Sciences: What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you, and in what way?
Just breathe. That's what I tell myself, while I'm worked up about something, whether that something is a big deal or not. I'm a perfectionist, so I've been told, always trying to make things fit ideally into the proper place. But being a perfectionist is something that causes anxiety and headache. Learning to relax and letting the pieces fall where they may is quite a challenge.
In order to achieve perfection, one must do the unthinkable and perform tasks that only Gods could perform. But is that really possible? Is perfection obtainable? In the film the Black Swan, directed by Darren Aronofsky, the main character, Nina, strives to be the picture perfect ballerina. Her passion for dance is so extreme that she makes herself physically and emotionally ill over being perfect.
As Nina's sanity slowly vanished, I became more unsettled by the effect perfection had on her. I realized that becoming perfect is a lifelong challenge that is ultimately impossible to reach. Nina spent her days and nights nailing her dance in order for her to perfect each move, but what she learned was that it wasn't only the moves that were important; it was her character that had to develop within the dance.
Nina's lunacy was unsettling for me to watch. If reaching perfection causes one to lose all self control than is that really perfection? Losing yourself over trying to reach the impossible isn't worth the nailing every move and making every detail faultless. Perhaps I can only be the best I can be and nothing more. If that's not perfection than what else can perfection be?
Just breathe. That's what I tell myself, while I'm worked up about something, whether that something is a big deal or not. I'm a perfectionist, so I've been told, always trying to make things fit ideally into the proper place. But being a perfectionist is something that causes anxiety and headache. Learning to relax and letting the pieces fall where they may is quite a challenge.
In order to achieve perfection, one must do the unthinkable and perform tasks that only Gods could perform. But is that really possible? Is perfection obtainable? In the film the Black Swan, directed by Darren Aronofsky, the main character, Nina, strives to be the picture perfect ballerina. Her passion for dance is so extreme that she makes herself physically and emotionally ill over being perfect.
As Nina's sanity slowly vanished, I became more unsettled by the effect perfection had on her. I realized that becoming perfect is a lifelong challenge that is ultimately impossible to reach. Nina spent her days and nights nailing her dance in order for her to perfect each move, but what she learned was that it wasn't only the moves that were important; it was her character that had to develop within the dance.
Nina's lunacy was unsettling for me to watch. If reaching perfection causes one to lose all self control than is that really perfection? Losing yourself over trying to reach the impossible isn't worth the nailing every move and making every detail faultless. Perhaps I can only be the best I can be and nothing more. If that's not perfection than what else can perfection be?