Day 1: Perfection is Not a Reality

After eagerly anticipating today for more than three months, it finally arrived - the first day of Shad Valley. For those of you who are not familiar, Shad Valley is an intensive summer enrichment program for students interested in the math and sciences. Carrying a fully-loaded suitcase, two heavy backpacks, and a suit (for formal events), I eagerly left my house to catch the Go Bus. Two hours later, I arrived at McMaster.

When I arrived at around 3:00 P.M., I was greeted by a group of very enthusiastic staff including Program Assistants and the Program Director, Kingsley. They gave me, as well as a group of other Shads, a tour of the McMaster campus that included the Medical Building (MDCL), the Engineering Building, the Humanties Building, and of course the Student Centre. After the tour, me as well as the other Shads introduced ourselves to each other and we played a couple of ice-breaker games to get to know one another.


Then, at 5:00P.M., Kinglsey told us to head to Centros (McMaster's Food Court) where we were served grilled fish, chicken balls, spring rolls, rice, ice cream, salad, and chocolate-cream pie - YUM!

Finally, the program officially began after dinner. All the Shads went back to Hedden Hall (our residence for the remainder of the Program) and we all went down to the Meeting Room, where we learned our first of many lessons: perfection is not a reality. Although this may sound strange, I beg you to hear me out for a second. Nobody is perfect, but as ambitious students, we always strive to become perfect.  Take myself as an example. I have a problem, you see; I am a procrastinating perfectionist. What does that mean? Basically, I like to leave everything until the last minute and then stress myself out to make everything perfect (or as perfect as possible).  Assignments, projects, test, you name it! I leave everything right up until the last night and then expect to pull an all-nighter and get 100% the next day. However, I learned a valuable lesson today: perfection is not a reality. There is no such thing as "perfect" and we all should stop trying to be perfect. Now, don't take this the wrong way; all I'm trying to say is that we should strive for excellence instead of perfection.  Excellence refers to bringing out the best of yourself with the limited time and resources you have. With that said, stop chasing perfection! The chase for perfection is a fool's game because perfection simply does not exist. Instead, pursue excellence - use the resources and time you have wisely and produce your best work.  This is one of the keys to lifelong success.

Anyway, it's 1:05 A.M. and I should probably catch some Zzz's as I need to wake up before six tomorrow for the 5km morning jog . Remember, don't fall into the trap believing perfection is a reality, as this will only stress yourself out. Instead, pursue excellence!

Good night and I'll see you all tomorrow with Day 2. :P

My room where I will be sleeping.  Zzzzzzzzzzz.