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The Copernican Principle applies to you. And your little hat too.



I made a hat. It isn't perfect. It's reasonably good but not perfect. Cue the self-loathing.

Two weeks ago, I didn't even know what millinery wire was, so what did I expect?

Duh? Flawless stunning art the likes of which have never been seen before. I mean, sure, all the other bums in the world require years and years to improve their skills. But I should get it in one.

Mm hmm. Us perfectionists always get it in one. Or not. And then we're blights upon the earth, consuming oxygen we don't deserve. We are either extraordinarily good or extraordinarily bad. But we are the exception.

Except that we're not.

Cosmologists have something called the Copernican Principle, which basically says nope, we're not the center of the universe. We're average. And this moment? It's unremarkable too. All the cool, amazing, and indeed, also horrifying stuff we're observing right now...it has happened before and it will happen again, in some other time and some other place. You ain't nothing special.

It's a humbling and useful concept that we often try to wriggle out of. The denial usually goes something like, "Humans can speak, play jazz, and remove their own ear wax! Surely that makes us better than dolphins?" Or, "This is my first time welding, but why wouldn't I be as good as Alexander Calder?"

Don't get me wrong. There is something beautiful and unique in each of us. My average is different than your average. Try as you might, you won't get the wrinkles in your brim exactly the way I did. Perfectionists need to learn from this, or even better, love from this. Be forgiving, to others, and to yourself. You're made out of the same exact stardust as everyone else, baby. But your twinkle? It's just the teeniest, tiniest, little bit different. Forget everything else and go celebrate that.

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