How often do you try something new? How often have you jumped off the edge, both feet first, into the ice-cold, raging river? How many times do you watch other people do things, but say "that's not for me?" How many times have you taken a chance, a risk that you might get hurt — physically, mentally, emotionally? How often do you speak your mind, letting those around you know how you feel? Do you act on those emotions and thoughts?

Before this starts to sound like some sort of diatribe on how to live your life, let me assure you that it's not. Before I (or anyone for that matter) could start to tell you how to live your life, my own life would have to be one of absolute perfection.

What's your idea of perfection? Is it some sort of place where nothing goes wrong and you are never riddled with negative emotions? Or is it a state of being, where you can go to relax and be at peace in a chaotic world? My idea of perfection is change. I am not saying that once something is good that it has to be changed, but rather that when something is good, don't let it get old or boring.

That might sound superficial to some people, but take this example. Say you're in a relationship and things have fallen into a comfortable routine. Great! You know where things stand with each other, and you can practically read each other's thoughts. Everything is perfect… or so you think. How do you deal with something different in that relationship? A difference of opinion or likes and dislikes? Does one person change the way he or she is to make the routine work?

Or here's another example. You come home from school everyday, you pick up your basketball, go to the courts at Rolfs and shoot hoops for an hour. You've done this every day since you came here Frosh-O weekend. After a while, the friends you'd shoot hoops with get tired of it ... you're all juniors now, and they're sick of tagging along with your ideas. Do you keep shooting hoops everyday or stop so you can hang out with your friends?

In both instances, what appeared to be "perfection" was really just boredom and lazy complacence. What would it be like to go to a nearby city and dance in the plazas and streets as you walked around at night? What would it be like to cry with people you only just met? What would it be like to meet people who accepted you for who you are, not expecting you to be anything else but yourself — and wanting you to be happy?

I think that would be wonderful ... It makes living exciting, to share who you really are with the people you meet, work and live. That is why I say that questioning the norm, fighting the urge to be complacent, is how to get to perfection.

Living such a life would be awesome. It would be real. It would be the truth. It would be perfect.

• Questioning the norm