Picture Perfect

We take photographs to preserve memories. We take photographs of things we know aren't going to last so that we can have a way of remembering them. We take pictures of our friends, family and pets when we're enjoying a moment so that we have a way of looking back on it.

We take pictures of places we've been to so that we can remember the place even after we've left it. We take pictures of beautiful things that aren't very common so that we may see them again and preserve the moment. One of the most bittersweet feelings we experience in life is thinking about how much we're going to miss a moment while we're still living it.

Personally, I have a slight obsession with taking pictures of the sky. There's something about the colours of the sky and the clouds and the way they arrange themselves that speaks to me. It's an orderly, expressive kind of chaos that gives me a profound feeling of freedom. I take photographs of it when I feel it is particularly beautiful and I want to capture it's beauty to look back on later and on the more difficult days when I feel the darkness and the feeling of a brewing storm perfectly explains how I'm feeling in ways I am unable to put into words.

As human beings in this age of technology, we take photographs of things we want to remember. We do this because we are afraid to lose them.

 That being said, it's saddening that maybe this generation, this so-called "selfie generation" aren't really just a bunch of narcissistic fools and attention-seeking nimrods, but rather a bunch of individuals afraid to lose themselves. Isn't it disheartening? That in this generation of technology and fast communication gateways, there are more and more individuals that capture their own photos to preserve and have memories of who they are.

We're never fully comfortable with who we are. We're never happy with ourselves. Society is always finding ways to make us feel inferior and to make us feel flawed and we fall for it. We feel the need to change ourselves. We strive for a kind of perfection that doesn't exist.

We break ourselves down faster than we're able to build ourselves up. What we don't realise is, it's okay to be a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously.

We need to break free from these chains of comparison we find ourselves imprisoned in. We need to stop comparing ourselves to others and start building ourselves up rather than breaking ourselves down. You'll always measure up if you compare yourself to you. We need to stop throwing shade and hating on people because of things they can do better than us or parts of them we like better than our own. We need to grow as people, together. You need to allow yourself to be a beginner. Nobody starts off being excellent. We need to be ourselves instead of who the world wants us to be.

We fight for political freedom but we fail to realise we aren't free at all. We're burying ourselves in our imperfections, failing to see our more positive attributes trying to shine through. The most important kind of freedom is to be yourself and to be what you really are. As humans of the 21st century, we trade in reality for a role. We trade in our sense for an act. We give up our ability to feel and, in exchange, put on a mask. We fail to realise that, no matter how hard we fight for world peace and for a change in the world, there can't be any large scale revolution until there's been a personal revolution on an individual level, in each and every one of us. It's got to happen inside first.

You need to give yourself more credit and embrace your individuality. An original is worth far more than a copy and it's far better to be a first rate version of yourself rather than a second rate version of somebody else. In difficult times, remember that where you are is not who you are.

Perhaps society is right and all we are is what people expect us to be, or maybe we are far more and we accept much less than we really deserve.