Wabi-Sabi: Peace in Imperfection

For the longest time, I believed peace was just one of the many ingredients for internal happiness. But eventually, the bubble breaks, and we realize that nothing lasts forever. It becomes undeniably clear: peace isn't just a part of happiness, it is the source of it.

Many scholars have interpreted the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi in their own ways. But the one that stayed with me is by Richard Powell:

“Nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.”

As a woman, the lifelong pursuit of perfection is a battle that's been fought for generations. The perfect height, the perfect hair, the perfect weight, the perfect shade of lipstick, everything must be just right. Until we reach that elusive perfection, we struggle, internally and externally.

“I didn’t get the perfect cushion color, let me return my Amazon order.”“I didn’t get perfect scores; I need to work harder.”“I don’t have the perfect number of Instagram followers; I need to up my game.”

Perfection has endless definitions, and we often become victims of our own imaginary standards. The cruel irony is that even when we think we’ve reached the goal, the goalpost shifts. It’s a never-ending climb toward something that doesn’t even exist.

“I’ll be perfect when I weigh 55 kg.”Then the scale flashes 55 and suddenly, 52 becomes the new target. That tiny, non-existent flab becomes our new enemy.

Peace starts to feel like an illusion but it’s also something we can’t live without. We’re surrounded by million-dollar smiles, yet behind them often lie faces burdened by anxiety and a craving for validation. We fail to recognize that everything we’re chasing is already within reach. We are trapped not by the world, but by the invisible chains of perfection we’ve created for ourselves.

What I find most beautiful is this: peace often sneaks up on us in the messiest moments. The sound of a child scribbling on walls, a dog shedding fur all over the sofa, the chaos of a noisy living room, a get away with your closest friends or that Netflix binge nights with your partner, those are the moments we laugh the hardest. We don’t care about the perfect setting. We are simply… happy.

There’s something deeply peaceful about those late-night pizza slices when calories are forgotten, or the quiet joy of curling up in a corner with a book. It’s in the imperfect, unfiltered moments with family, friends, or even by ourselves, that we find genuine happiness.

Life isn’t meant to be flawless. It's meant to be lived. Challenges will come, but it's essential to know when to pause, breathe, and return to living. We must stop chasing the illusion of perfection and start embracing the raw, unpredictable beauty of the now. Wabi-sabi reminds us that nothing is perfect, and that’s exactly what makes it beautiful. It's not about how far we must go to find peace, it's about how close we’re willing to look to find it, in the imperfections all around us.