To prove that bloggers are not only creative but also ingenious, the folks at #TeamDamyanti are hosting the A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal. A blog hop within a blog fest, today is the day that more than three hundred bloggers reveal their theme for the A to Z April Blogging Challenge. 
They have answered the age old question of to Theme or not to Theme with a resounding yes and have put their theme out there.
Last year, I decided to run with a theme for the first time. It was so much fun, that I’m doing it again this year. Last year I blogged a twenty six step permission slip, allowing myself to do, experience and think about things in a way I had never done before. The whole April journey was enjoyable, revealing and cathartic. In a similar vein, my theme for this year is….
The A to Z of Living Imperfectly
In today’s world there is a real pressure to try to have it all and be it all. Society pressures us into acting and thinking a certain way and whilst there is some wriggle room within those confines, it is not always enough. From what we do for a living, to what we wear, what we eat, how we parent and how we spend our leisure time there are enduring expectations. If you are a certain age you are expected to behave a certain way (or not to behave in a certain way), if you are a parent there is incredible pressure for perfection, a pressure we tend to project onto our children’s’ lives all too readily.
If perfection is the key to success or the road to happiness, then I have failed miserably to find that key. And yet I feel successful and happy. This spurs me even more to push my personal boundaries and grow, much to the chagrin of my peers who have certain views on the perfect midlife hair, fashion, etiquette, social activities and more. My views are somewhat different, no better or worse, and it just means that I have eschewed perfection for authenticity. When I talk about perfection in this context, I mean acting or thinking in such a way that is generally regarded as the best way to act or think.
To my mind perfection is an illusion sort of like the equation X +1. You think you have hit X only to find there is always one more step so you keep on striving and others keep on judging. This is not to say don’t do your best, but making perfection one’s life quest is fraught.
In April, I am going to explore the concept of perfection looking at certain areas where society expects perfection and conclude why it is more than acceptable not to be perfect. I hope it will serve as a beacon or a flair for those who have decided that perfection is not all that it is cracked up to be or who are thinking about taking their first tentative steps away from perfection.
I hope that my struggles with perfection will give you some insights and demonstrate that we all have our individual struggles with it and that is OK.
Come join me in April for some imperfect living.
And to wet your appetites just a little more, here are a few more WordPress bloggers who are partaking in the Challenge and who revealed their themes today:
- Carrie Anne, who blogs at That Dizzy Chick revealed her Challenge theme of inspirational quotes. Get set for a whole month of inspiration
- Linda Maye Adams who blogs at her site of the same name, revealed her theme of what is it like to be in the military. According to Linda’s blog she is an author and a soldier having spent 12 years in the Army. Sounds like some unique insights in store for us in April
- A Short A Day is an author’s blog and in April this author will blog a story. One hundred words every day starting with the relevant letter of the alphabet.
- Lainey who blogs at laineyrain, revealed her Challenge theme of be braver . This will be a series of blogs about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Go Lainey!
- Precari0us who blogs at Sumptuous Living revealed her theme of letters to my daughter, a fictional series.
With this sort of variety April is shaping up to be a great blogging month. Sign ups for the Challenge have now reached the 1400 mark and it’s still not too late if you want to join in. You can sign up here.
Eight days to go to A Day!!
Raising the Curtain 
We all are imperfectly perfect in our own ways. I loved you theme. And I am absolutely thankful for the link back to my blog. I really appreciate it.
– Kripali
(AJ’s wHooligans)
Sumptuous Living
Good luck for next month and thanks for swinging by my blog.
Your most welcome
I wish you luck, I may if I can think of a theme lol x
I hope you do, it would be fun to do it together :).
Thank you so much for the mention!! I can’t wait to see your posts for April.
Carrie~Anne at That Dizzy Chick
Thank you. I’m looing forward to yours too!
I think I am going to enjoy this one – at the least I foresee a lot of resonance!
Keith at A storey of stories
Thanks Keith, I’m keen to see what you come up with for April.
Thanks so much for including my blog in your post! Your theme is excellent, and I can’t wait to read your posts…roll on April x
Thanks Lainey. I think your theme is great and along the lines of what I did last year. I’m keen to see what you come up with.
I love your theme – perfectly imperfect. And there is such a variety of themes out there, I’m really excited to get to reading theme. Thanks for the piggyback.
The creativity in the Sphere and throughout the Challenge never ceases to amaze me. All the best for April.
This topic should cover some familiar territory for me.
Lee
Wrote By Rote
An A to Z Co-host blog
Thanks Lee, It is sure to be an interesting ride.
I love your chosen theme. I think all of us at some point have sought the ever-elusive perfection. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.
Thanks Carrie. I agree that it is something we all tend to grapple with. My life instruction book got lost in the mail somewhere.
What an unusual and provocative theme. We certainly all can relate to this struggle for perfection or our decisions to opt out of societal dictates. I agree with you – Lainey and her blog are real treasures!
Hi Sammy, very glad to have crossed blog paths with you. Enjoy the Challenge, it will be a whole lot of fun. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
I enjoyed your A to Z challenge last time. This will be another interesting theme and I look forward to reading as much of it as I can. 🙂
Thanks Tess, I’m hoping my posts will resonate to a few people. You will be busy in April too, so if you do have time to read my posts, I will be quite thrilled 🙂
Sounds internet is not the best there but only wish to stay in contact with my family and keep my Inbox from exploding. Have lots of subscriptions I hate to cancel because I may not get them back again. 😎
Can you set up a new internet email address just for the family and then shut down the data download for the one that has all of your subscriptions?
You know, it HAD occurred to me to setup a new account only for this trip especially if I use internet cafe(s) but haven’t set anything up. Times’s flying.
Hmm. What does that mean, shutdown the data download for the one that has all of my subscriptions?
If you are taking a mobile device with you like a phone or iPad then remove those email addresses from those devices just for the trip. Overseas you pay for whatever downloads you make and you can make them without even knowing if messages are continually coming in. You can turn off data download on your device, but that turns of all data download, including location services if you want to use a GPS and all of the emails you want to see. Hope this makes sense.
Can`t say it does. I`m a techie moron.
Someone told me there would be VPN in each hotel and to use `public` and this would work.
Yes, there should be VPN in the hotel. It’s more if you have a SIM in your phone which lets you also download as well as take and make calls. You don’t want the automatic downloading of emails whilst you are sight seeing to chew up all of your data and costs.
I LOVE your theme! Great idea! I look forward to reading your posts. 🙂
Random Musings From the KristenHead A to Z Theme Reveal
Thank you Kristen. Your idea sounds really interesting also. I’m looking forward to seeing your GIFs in April 🙂
Your theme sounds very cool. It should be inspirational to follow you during this years challenge.Laughing at Life 2
Thank you. Your theme sounds cool too. I love anything with a humorous spin. So I’m keen to see where you go with it.
Love your topic, I know I’m suffering from perfectionism so it’ll be good to be reminded every day that it doesn’t have to be like that!
This is why I love the Challenge. Such a great way to find new blogs to follow. Am now following two of yours :). Good luck with the triple in April. It sounds like it’s going to be quite the month for you 🙂
I did not pick a theme but I am leaning toward that this year. I definitely enjoyed your post and love, love, love how you included other bloggers themes as well. I visited you several times last year during the challenge and since then, and I’ll be anxious to see what you do imperfectly this year. A-to-Z blogging with you!
Thanks for swinging by my blog and for continuing to swing by after last year’s Challenge. Glad to see my themes resonating. If you decide to try a theme this year, leave a comment on what it is and a link to your blog so we can all check it out. Even if you don’t decide to theme, leave a link to your blog anyway 🙂
You got me at ‘I have eschewed perfection for authenticity’. I read that I was wowed! I simply LOVED your posts last year. Looking forward to a new set of them again. All the best! 😀
Thanks Dagny, this time we are in it together 🙂
I am very much looking forward to this! Though I am a perfectionist re all things technical and work-related I know I fail at meeting expections in other realms. I don’t use a lawn mower, for example, but a scythe.
the use of a scythe sounds like great exercise, although it depends on the size of your lawn :). Thanks, I think this will be fun.
Good theme. We let others and their expectations define us far too often. Finding ones own path through life is what really matters, and perfect is really only how you see things yourself. I’ll be popping in to see your posts this month. Good luck!
We do tend to put a lot of unnecessary pressure on ourselves. Thanks for stumbling on my blog and leaving a comment. I look forward to crossing paths with you in April.