You - A Short Poem

SocietyofGen_Z
Contributor III

"Your weight does not make you.

Others do not define you.

Your emotions do not control you;

You are your own person.

When you look at yourself in the mirror, smile.

You’re perfect from every angle.

When you walk, let people know it;

They don’t represent your worth.

When you’re hurting, let it out; emotions are normal 

You are perfect,

You are strong,

And it’s time everyone knew it."

 

Written by: Jessica Kaplan

Edited by: Charlena Li

 

What do you think about society's standards and the judgements we often receive? What is the best way to alter everyone's mindset towards beauty and perfection?

9 REPLIES 9

RjonaSam
Contributor I

I love thiss!!

Glad you enjoyed reading it!

NathanW
Visionary I

Needed this today. Thank you. I almost feel as if COVID kind of encouraged everyone to take a step back and judge each other less. It forced us all to strip down the bare necessities and think about what really matters. I personally stopped thinking so much about what everyone else thinks and more about how what I was doing or how I looked made me feel. And that was a beautiful evolution during a really difficult time

We definitely agree that there were some silver linings that came out of COVID!

Justice
Co-Founder
Co-Founder

I've done a lot of thinking about "society's standards" and specifically definitions of success. Having spent so much of my life on a very traditional path, ticking all of the expected boxes, I started asking myself a few years ago what it would look like if I defined success on my own terms as opposed to relying on external validation. That questioning ultimately motivated me to take the plunge and leave my corporate job to do Révolutionnaire full-time. I think a reframing that embraces uncertainty and a path of discovery as opposed to always having readily available and easy answers is really important to get in touch with yourself. Life is short and we might as well be living one that matters to us and means something as opposed to living in the ideals that we think others expect of us. In a similar vein, betting on yourself is a great place to start. 

We 100% agree with what you said! With today's standards, it's so difficult for one to maintain their true self. We constantly try to change ourselves so that we can adapt to what society wants us to be. In fact, we do it so often that we forget who we really wanted to be in the first place; as a result, we easily lose ourselves to expectations. It truly requires so much confidence to face your true self and your passions, especially when it isn't what others anticipate from you.

Stella
Visionary I

Is the goal to alter people's perception of perfection? Does perfection even exist? What is perfection?

These are some great questions, and sadly we don't have the greatest answers. It is extremely hard to define perfection and we cannot even confirm its existence. However, we might consider shifting our minds away from perfection and instead embrace our imperfections. Perhaps being 'perfect' is also simply a matter of one's mindset!

Janae_J
Contributor II

This is a beautiful poem!! I wish it could be read and internalized by everyone. Society's standards are so unrealistic and inconsistent and its so unfortunate that we are are judged for simply existing. I wish that feelings of confusion, were normalized; we are human beings, we are not meant to be perfect or have it all figured out. As for altering mindsets, I think that can only be done if people introspect and realize that we're all just trying our best.