Several years ago, I had the honor of volunteering with a group of middle school students in an afterschool program here in Fort Worth. As part of this volunteer project, I wrote a short one-act play, Nobody’s Perfect, Even If You’re Spoiled, using input from the students I volunteered with.
It’s a comedy revolving around everyday middle school life, and what it means to be “perfect.” Spoiler alert: wearing the nicest clothes doesn’t make you perfect! In fact, as the title alludes to, nobody is perfect.
If you are interested in performing this play, please direct permission requests to my e-mail here. Please include your name, title, and the organization that you represent in your message.
I think the message that “nobody’s perfect” is something I could take to heart right about now. I’ve had a lot of challenges in my life. Coming from a rough childhood where I suffered from behavioral difficulties, I know I’ve made a lot of progress, yet I’m still not in the place where I want to be in life. I’ll admit, I don’t yet have the job I want, even if I have the privilege of presenting myself, fashion-wise, like I’m already the person I want to become. I’ve faced other challenges from being a transgender woman with a mild intellectual disability (ASD, albeit with a high IQ) as well.
Yet, regardless of the challenges I face in life, I refuse to simply throw in the towel and adopt a victim mentality. Even if I fell prey to the victim mentality in the recent past, I’ve accomplished too much already to simply give up on myself. I desire nothing more than to get ahead in life, without cheating nor resorting to unethical methods. If I could rightfully earn a 3.8 GPA in college and graduate magna cum laude, what says that I can’t accomplish greater things?
Still, I do find it important to step back and recognize my privilege. Even if I don’t come from a rich family, I come from a family that could at least afford to send me to an expensive private university like Texas Christian University, with the assistance of a merit scholarship that I earned. They worked hard to build at least some generational wealth that I might inherit in the future. Being a TCU alumna in Fort Worth also opens doors that might otherwise be closed to your average transgender woman living here. My biggest weakness was simply not taking advantage of these open doors, because I fell prey to a victim mentality that I am working to shed.
Now that I have identified the problem, I can go about solving it. The time has come to finally kill my excuses, burn their remains, and let the wind scatter them away. In recent weeks, I turned this phrase into my personal mantra. I recognize that getting rid of my excuses does not make me perfect, and that I will still have strengths and weaknesses as a person. I should add that shedding the victim mentality does not, and should not, mean shedding my compassion for those less fortunate. I recognize that “pulling yourself up by the bootstraps” simply isn’t sufficient for someone to get ahead in life, particularly if they are not already coming from a privileged position; some people simply need extra help, and an extra push, to accomplish their goals and dreams.
To finish this post, I’ll leave you with this quote from my first-ever Instagram post:
Life is a stage and you only get one performance; don’t be afraid to go out there and make it a good one!
It’s definitely a reminder that we should be the best person we can!
~ Sydney