### Practice Doesn't Make Perfect - It Makes Me Want to Throw Something

As someone who has been told my entire life that "practice makes perfect," I'm starting to think that whoever came up with that phrase was just a sadistic jerk. Because in my experience, practice doesn't make perfect - it makes me want to throw something, usually in the general direction of the person telling me to "just keep practicing."

I mean, think about it. How many times have you heard that sage piece of advice when attempting to learn a new skill? "Oh, you're not great at it yet? Well just keep practicing and you'll get better!" Well color me shocked, but turns out that's not always the case.

I've practiced my handwriting for years and it's still an embarrassing scrawl that looks like a toddler got ahold of a marker. I've practiced my cooking skills for decades and I'm still pretty sure I could burn water if given the opportunity. And don't even get me started on my failed attempts at learning an instrument - the number of broken drumsticks I've gone through is just depressing.

Yet the relentless chorus of "practice makes perfect" keeps echoing, as if repetition alone is the secret to mastering any task. Well I'm here to tell you, that's a big fat lie. Sometimes, no matter how much you practice, you're simply not going to be perfect. And you know what? That's okay!

We all have our strengths and weaknesses, our innate abilities and our kryptonite skills. The sooner we accept that we don't have to be perfect at everything, the sooner we can stop beating ourselves up and just enjoy the damn process.

So the next time someone tries to spew that "practice makes perfect" nonsense at me, I'll be sure to respond with a perfectly aimed throw of my latest botched project. Because in my experience, practice just makes me want to break things. And I'm totally okay with that.