As you progress through high school, you will inevitably find yourself surrounded by images of what the “perfect” high school straight-A student looks like: the student who never seems to fall short, is involved in countless activities, takes the most challenging classes and still somehow has it all together.

You may only hear of them every now and then, but their image follows you everywhere and their presence haunts you. But the truth is, that student does not exist; what actually exists is the perfect student inside all of our heads. We only notice the perfectly curated highlight reels or winning the gold trophy at a competition, but not the 2 a.m. morning breakdown from frustration with a difficult class or the friends that drifted apart because there was no time to hang out.

If we were to take a magnifying glass and zoom in on each individual on campus, we’d be reminded that everyone is still—and will always be—figuring life out. If we give in to the pressure to be perfect, we begin to focus more on results rather than the process of learning. We lose our curiosity and sense of balance, all to maintain a flawless image of ourselves, one that does not allow for the mistakes necessary for growth.

For us to discover ourselves, we have to make the illusion of the perfect student vanish first. In order to do so, we must realize that what we should actually be striving for is consistency, not perfection. Finding yourself struggling in certain areas is unavoidable, but through that comes growth. And that is entirely the point: to grow. And maybe that means letting go of the idea of perfection and focusing instead on becoming a little better each day, even if it’s not always visible.