Liberta

Responsibilities and expectations are the basis of guilt and shame and judgment, and they provide the essential framework that promotes performance as the basis for identity and value (The Shack by WM. Paul Young). Being in the French world, I’ve noticed how many people strive to be perfect. You know that we’re having guests over as soon as you walk in the front door and see the floors “perfectly” cleaned. Or when you walk into the kitchen and see that “homemade” loaf sitting on the counter. Everyone seems so happy from the outside, but I’ve lived on the inside and I can tell you that it’s definitely not the case. I can give plenty of examples of perfect moments that were perfect to me but may not seem as perfect to you, and you could do the same. Take the snowday in Saskatoon, for example. Now looking back, the day just seemed perfect in a way: snow absolutely everywhere, having to stop every three minutes, not knowing if you would actually get home, finally getting home an hour later when it usually takes less than three minutes, friends having to stay overnight because they don’t have any other choice, all the excitement made it a good day. Then again, I wasn’t one of the people who had to go outside and shovel... However, how many people would have thought it was the worst day ever because they had somewhere to get to, or because it was inconvenient for them? Looking back at my last blog post, it really depends on if you look at it in a positive way or a negative way. Who sets the bar for perfection anyway? We all know that the perfect score on a test would be 100% but you can’t exactly give a mark for the cleanliness of your house, or how perfect your family and life is. We each set that bar and we keep setting it higher and higher until we drive ourselves crazy. We try to view our lives as other people would see it, and we think, “Well this has to be better or they’ll judge me,” when really, other people’s bars of perfection might be a lot lower than yours. We try to be perfect so that we will not be judged by the people around us. But what makes them so perfect; what makes them have the right to judge you? If you spend all your time trying to be perfect, trying to live up to everyone else’s standards, who are you really living your life for? Why are we expected to have the best clothes, the biggest and cleanest house, and the most perfect family?

This week was rocky, with many high and many low points. I let the high parts take over for most of it. The weekend was a lot of fun; I spent most of it at Adriana’s and we made cookies and then met up with Aimee so that we could take pictures (I believe Adriana posted most of them on facebook). That night, we watched Mamma Mia before playing some Guitar Hero. The next day, we went out for lunch at a Tex Mex Restaurant (yay taco salad!), and then we went to the Arc de Triomphe, only to find out that they cancelled the usual “Free the First Sunday of the Month” rule, which too many tourists knew anyway. This is my last working week before my vacation; Lauren comes in five days! I’m getting superpumped! I hope everyone has a great week. Love always
Liberta – Pep’s (Feat Djazia)