One of the most endearing moments that comes about after entering adulthood is reconciling with the fact that you were - at some point in the past - a terrible person. I mean, awful to the core. It's okay, this is a safe space, we all have to go through it.

For most, growing up typically involves a revolution of conscious which thereby impacts morals and behaviors. It may happen overnight, it may take weeks, it may take years, but it does happen - whether we like it or not.

I grew up just as the social justice movement was reaching it's climax, so in an attempt at becoming The Best Perfect Person Ever™, I made the choice to internalize every single -ism, -ation, -ogeny, -andry, etc. known to mankind.

I believed in doing so, I would become the pinnacle of acceptance, supreme consciousness and emotional growth.

I wanted to be perfect because other people told me that's what I should have aspired to be.

Funny thing is, the road to becoming The Best Perfect Person Ever™ is lined with total and utter bullshit.

I was a total fraud; over the top and inconsistent with my actions and saying things that I didn't believe because, "according to the definition of _____________, this was how a person should conduct themselves if they wanted society to see them as forward-thinking."

And therein lies the crux of my distaste with perfection and being "woke". The act of clinging onto -isms to help prove my perfect intellectual superiority and perfect, left-leaning social compass wasn't done for personal growth - it was done for the watching eyes of others.

Here's the thing: humans aren't perfect. Our origins were imperfect, and our lives are also, imperfect. I find no reason to reject striving towards personal growth, but I do understand there will be bumps and slip ups along the way.

Being an active Twitter user and a casual Tumblr user, I've been witness to an endless barrage of people clinging onto things like buzzword terminologies they don't actually understand, and kid-glove patterns of behavior used only to prove their self-appointed, group-justified superiority to everyone else. I've seen people sling meaningless marginalization's in attempts to derail conversation in their favor and utilize the aforementioned tactic to excuse behavior that would - otherwise - not be absolved. I've witnessed the weaponization of cancellation culture and watched it threateningly wielded over everybody as a way to regulate behavior - spanning from the regular schmegulars to the richie rich's.

It is all a lot, extra as hell and wildly unrealistic.

But I get it, you have to go through it to get through it.

Thankfully, we have reached the decline of the overly intense social justice warrior era and I now recognize the caricature it has become and, truthfully, always was. To loosely quote Harry Hart aka Galahad from the greatest spoof spy film, Kingsman: The Secret Service:

"There is nothing noble in thinking yourself superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self."

So yeah, I'm not a super awful person, but I'm not perfect. I try my best to see all sides and treat others with the respect they command, but sometimes I will slip up.

I can acknowledge what I was, that I am growing and that I am trying to the Best Perfect Me - that is what and who is most important.

There is no such thing as the perfect person, and the sooner I realized that, the better I became.